Not even the drums of war in Venezuela are enough to stop the drastic agenda of deportations of Donald Trump. The United States continues to charter flights to repatriate Venezuelan migrants bound for La Guaira despite the intention of the tenant of the White House to completely close the airspace of the South American country. They are not incompatible objectives.
The Government of Nicolas Madurowhich had assumed that its announcement last Saturday would result in the suspension of repatriations, to the point of stating that the United States had “unilaterally” frozen said flights, seems to have no other options than to accept the return of its citizens in an atmosphere charged by daily threats of attack.
For this reason, the Venezuelan Government authorized the landing at the Maiquetía airport, which serves Caracas, of a Boeing 777-200 operated by Eastern Airlines that had taken off this Wednesday from Phoenix (Arizona). The authorities did not specify the number of migrants traveling on the aircraft.
“The Venezuelan Aeronautical Authority has received a request from the United States Government to resume migrant repatriation flights from that country to Venezuela,” the Venezuelan Ministry of Transportation had announced a day earlier.
“The number one priority of the White House is to continue with mass deportations. That is to say, the continuation of this policy is above any other, including the bellicose rhetoric against Venezuela,” the Venezuelan analyst emphasizes in conversation with this newspaper. Carolina Jiménez Sandovalpresident of the Washington Office on Latin American Affairs (WOLA).
The repatriation flights, which were carried out twice a week, will be able to fly over Venezuelan airspace “as has been happening on a weekly basis on Wednesdays and Fridays,” the statement added.
According to Venezuelan government figures, nearly 14,000 migrants have returned to the country on charter flights since the Trump Administration launched migrant deportations last February.
The resumption of repatriations shows that the communication channels between Washington and Caracas are still standing despite the continuous threats from Trump and the head of the Pentagon, Pete Hegsethwho accuse Maduro of leading the Cartel of the Suns, an alleged criminal network that traffics drugs to the United States border. An accusation that Maduro flatly rejects.
In fact, during the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the White House tenant once again mentioned the possibility of starting ground attacks against Venezuela “very soon.”
“You know, the earth is much easier, much easier. And we know the routes they take. We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad guys live,” declared the American president, who, according to the Miami Heraldhad offered the Chavista leader an honorable departure from the country. Offer that Maduro would have rejected.
Donald Trump during the White House Cabinet meeting.
Trump’s message last Saturday ensuring that Venezuelan airspace could be considered “completely closed” was a new setback for Caracas in the military escalation initiated by Washington. “No authority outside of Venezuelan institutions has the power to interfere, block or condition the use of national airspace,” responded the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.
But the words of the tenant of the White House caused an avalanche of flight cancellations in Venezuela. Since Monday, the country only receives flights from Cuba, Curacao, Colombia, Panama and Russia, according to data from the Flightradar24 portal.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States urged at the end of November to “exercise caution” when flying over Venezuela and the southern Caribbean. But the air attacks against suspected drug boats off the coast of Venezuela, which have caused the death of at least 83 people, have not reduced the frequency of plane arrivals with deported migrants. And it does not seem that the situation is going to alter Trump’s roadmap.