Trump calls for Venezuela’s airspace to be treated as “completely closed”

Today, in a warning to airlines in particular, US President Donald Trump called for the airspace over and near Venezuela to be considered closed, amid the escalation of the confrontation with leader Nicolas Maduro.
“To all airlines, pilots, drug dealers, and human traffickers, please consider the airspace over and around Venezuela to be completely closed,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social website.
This comes at a time when the US administration has intensified pressure on Venezuela by deploying a large force in the Caribbean Sea, especially the largest aircraft carrier in the world.
Washington asserts that the goal of the military deployment is to limit drug smuggling into the United States, but Caracas believes that it aims to overthrow Maduro and seize Venezuelan oil.
US forces have carried out strikes against more than 20 ships they said were suspected of drug smuggling in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since the beginning of September, killing more than 80 people.
Washington has not yet published any evidence that the ships it targeted were used to smuggle drugs or posed a threat to the United States.
Regional tensions are rising as a result of the bombing campaign and the accompanying military buildup.
The New York Times reported yesterday that Trump and Maduro spoke by phone last week and discussed a possible meeting in the United States.
The report on the phone call comes the day after the US President announced his intention to stop drug smuggling by land as well, which led to escalation of tension with Caracas.