Trump to airlines: Consider Venezuela’s airspace closed

US President Donald Trump participates in a video call with military service members from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 27, 2025, during the Thanksgiving holiday. US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Sarah Beckstrom, one of the two National Guard troops shot a day earlier near the White House, had died, while the other soldier was "fighting for his life." (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images) / Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro delivers a speech during a military ceremony in Fuerte Tiuna, Caracas on November 25, 2025. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP via Getty Images)
(Background) U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a video call with military service members from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 27, 2025, during the Thanksgiving holiday. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images) / (L) Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro delivers a speech during a military ceremony in Fuerte Tiuna, Caracas, on November 25, 2025. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
8:04 AM – Saturday, November 29, 2025

President Donald Trump has informed airlines that the airspace above Venezuela should be considered closed to air travel amid tensions with Venezuelan leadership.

“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” he posted to his Truth Social platform on Saturday morning.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also recently issued a notice calling for airlines to avoid the area.

“Operators are advised to exercise caution when operating in the Maiquetia flight information region at all altitudes due to the worsening security situation and heightened military activity in or around Venezuela,” an FAA notice warned last week.

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Several airlines responded to this memo by canceling flights.

Since September, the Trump administration has carried out dozens of deadly military strikes against alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Furthermore, on a Thanksgiving Day phone call, he told military members that the United States would begin to take action on land “very soon.”

The U.S. has clashed with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro since before Trump took office for the second time, being one of the more than 50 countries that do not recognize him as the head of state. Maduro has been in power since the death of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in 2013, the founder of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

Trump determined in October that the U.S. is in an “armed conflict” with Caribbean drug cartels hailing from Venezuela. This week, the Department of State (DOS) also designated Cartel de los Soles as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” claiming a connection to President Maduro and other high-ranking members of his regime.

Trump praised the military’s success in striking down drug trafficking vessels while on the call on Thanksgiving.

“In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers, of which there are many,” Trump said. “Of course, there aren’t too many coming in by sea anymore.”

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