Venezuela’s airspace becomes another battlefield

Venezuela’s skies have become another battlefront. For the past week, what seemed like just another element of Washington’s hybrid offensive against Caracas has transformed into a vast, silent battlefield isolating the country. Venezuelan airspace is now the scene of threats, warnings, canceled flights, and military maneuvers fueling a conflict with an uncertain outcome.

At around 1:00 p.m. local time on Sunday, air traffic trackers showed an unusual picture: only seven aircraft were crossing Venezuelan airspace: a handful of civilian planes, a few commercial flights still maintaining their routes, and one aircraft from the Bolivarian Air Force. On those maps saturated with tiny, colorful planes, Venezuela stands out like a huge black hole. For the first time in a long time, a sky once teeming with international connections now appears as a forbidden territory. Donald Trump’s message is clear: Caracas will be isolated in the skies as well.

Washington’s strategy is aimed at creating a void, and turning airspace isolation into yet another instrument of political pressure. Fewer goods, less mobility, more uncertainty. Donald Trump’s call on social media last Saturday to consider the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela “to be closed in its entirety” was a further turn of the screw. Imposing an exclusion zone doesn’t seem like a measure Trump could implement from the Oval Office, but it serves as a warning for everyone. It induces airlines to avoid the route, fuels the perception of risk, and increases the symbolic pressure he has been exerting on Nicolás Maduro’s government.

This Sunday, Maduro responded to the actions of the White House by sending a letter to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and member countries (OPEC+)—which bring together more than 20 states—accusing Washington of attempting to seize the country’s “vast oil reserves” “through the use of lethal military force.”

And back in the U.S., several lawmakers, including a Republican representative, Mike Turner of Ohio, expressed concern on Sunday about a follow-up U.S. strike that killed survivors on an alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean. Democratic legislators said it could represent a war crime.

The United States has used airspace as a tool of coercion in other international crises—from flight restrictions over Iraq in the 1990s to air pressure over Libya and Syria during periods of heightened tension—but rarely in such a unilateral manner and so directly linked to a hemispheric dispute. “The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood, and we will protect it,” said Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense, a few weeks ago when announcing the start of Operation Southern Spear, which purportedly targets drug trafficking, but above all, Venezuela.

The U.S. offensive, which includes an unprecedented military deployment in the Caribbean, is keeping the Chavista regime on high alert with constant shows of force, messages of unity, and warnings that they will defend themselves to the bitter end.

This Thursday, Maduro’s Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino, posted a video on Instagram showing military aircraft maneuvers. The post was intended to commemorate Bolivarian Military Aviation Day, but it contained a forceful message from Padrino: “We are prepared to defend our homeland’s skies. We are ready to respond to any aggression against the people of Venezuela, against its sovereignty, and against its territorial integrity. Bolivarian military aviation knows it must strike hard wherever it needs to strike. Strike and conquer!”

Trump’s announcement was described by the Chavista regime as a “hostile act” and “an explicit threat of the use of force.” Meanwhile, the United States has continued its overflights near the Venezuelan coast. This Saturday, F-18 fighter jets were seen near Falcón State, in western Venezuela. The Bolivarian Armed Forces responded by deploying a new air defense system in the city of Lecherías, in eastern Venezuela.

The region is watching the turn the crisis has taken with concern. Latin American leaders fear an escalation, an armed conflict, and consequently, a new humanitarian crisis that would push—once again—hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans toward their borders. From Mexico to Buenos Aires, governments are closely monitoring the conflict’s trajectory with the fear and uncertainty that at any moment—and under any circumstances—an already volatile situation could escalate. “One shot is enough to start a war, but nobody knows how it will end,” warned Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. At the same time, the possibility that nothing will happen, that things will be resolved—however it may be—through diplomatic channels, is not being ruled out.

In Bogotá, President Gustavo Petro has become the leading critic of Trump’s strategy to gain hegemony in the continent. The Colombian president publicly questioned the Republican’s announcement on Sunday regarding the de facto closure of Venezuelan airspace. Petro called for the urgent intervention of the International Civil Aviation Organization and the European Union. “If a foreign president can close another country’s airspace without any legal basis, then national sovereignty ceases to exist,” he warned. “The closure of Venezuelan airspace is completely illegal,” he declared on his X account, his preferred platform for commenting on any issue. Colombia has reason to be concerned: it shares more than 1,000 kilometers of border with Venezuela, and four million Venezuelans have emigrated to the country seeking refuge. Furthermore, Petro’s relationship with Trump has reached unprecedented levels of hostility.

In just one week, the air travel landscape has changed dramatically. The crisis in Venezuelan airspace dates back to November 21, when the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a warning about increased military operations in Venezuelan airspace. Since then, tensions between the two countries have escalated once again. Colombian aviation authorities were the first to recommend that their airlines not fly to or from Caracas, although Bogotá remains the preferred route for evacuating stranded tourists. The Spanish State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) joined the U.S. warning, recommending the suspension of routes until at least Monday, December 1. These alerts triggered a wave of cancellations by airlines such as Air Europa, Plus Ultra, Iberia, Turkish Airlines, Avianca, LAN, Gol, and TAP.

Venezuela interpreted the airlines’ precautions as support for “acts of state terrorism promoted by the United States government.” In response, it revoked the licenses of all companies that suspended their flights. Thus, the air connectivity crisis that the country has faced for several years has entered a new and serious phase. Currently, Venezuela only has air connections with Bogotá, Panama City, and some of the Antilles islands.

Air travel restrictions are also disrupting daily life in the lead-up to the Christmas holidays. The suspension of international flights has left hundreds of passengers stranded both within and outside the country. At Madrid’s Barajas Airport, dozens of Venezuelans have slept in the hallways, hoping to find a way to return home. Panama’s Copa Airlines is the main carrier maintaining connections with Venezuela, but in response to Donald Trump’s message this Saturday, it has tightened its security protocols and is only operating daytime flights.

Meanwhile, Russian tour operators, which maintain regular charter flights from Moscow to Margarita Island in Venezuela, have also suspended their routes. “The resumption of the flight program to Venezuela is planned after the situation goes back to normal,” states a press release on the website of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia. Travelers who had purchased packages for December 1st have now been offered Varadero, in Cuba, as an alternative destination. The organization notes that Russian tourists currently on the Venezuelan island will return to Moscow on their originally scheduled dates.

The air travel crisis has required more than rhetoric and symbolism from the Chavista regime. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez announced on Saturday that a “special plan” will be activated for the return of stranded Venezuelans and the departure of those who need to travel, but she did not provide details on how it will be implemented. The two weekly flights repatriating migrants from the United States have also been suspended. Rodríguez blamed opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado for requesting the airspace blockade and accused Washington of “complying with her.”

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