Trump declares Venezuela airspace closed after threatening land action

New York: Days after reportedly speaking directly with Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, US President Donald Trump has ramped up his campaign against the country, declaring the airspace closed, signaling possible military action.

In a terse Truth Social Post on Saturday afternoon, he said, “… please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY”.

Besides airlines and pilots, he directed the warning to “Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers”, linking possible action to his campaign against illegal migration and his war on drugs.

For weeks, the US has been bombing on high seas vessels suspected of carrying drugs, hitting more than 20 from the air and killing over 80 people.

On Thursday, he said, “We’ll be starting to stop them by land”.

“Also, the land (action) is easier, but that’s going to start very soon”, he added in his Thanksgiving Day message to the military.

Venezuela said Trump’s declaration that its airspace is closed reeked of colonialism and was “hostile and unjustified”.

The region is swarming with US Navy ships led by the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford, and 15,000 military personnel have been deployed there.

The New York Times, quoting anonymous sources, reported that Trump and Maduro had spoken by phone and discussed a direct meeting, among other matters.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is among the hawks on Maduro’s rule, was also on the call, the newspaper said.

Neither the White House nor Venezuela has confirmed the talks.

Media reports earlier said Maduro had offered the US access to its oil riches and other concessions, but insisted he should be allowed to retain power for 2 years – a condition Trump is unlikely to agree to.

Last week, the US designated a drug outfit, Cartel de los Soles, as a foreign terrorist organisation, and alleged that MAduro was its head.

This would allow Trump to claim that any action against Maduro and Venezuela was an anti-drug action, and, therefore, technically not a war.

Nor would it go against his earlier statements against foreign wars and regime change, and he probably hopes he would not be seen as a warmonger, endangering his claims to a Nobel Prize.

Trump could then say that he would not need the legally mandated Congressional approval required for a war.

Democratic Party leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, reminded him, “Under our Constitution, Congress has the sole power to declare war — not the president”.

“President Trump’s reckless actions towards Venezuela are pushing America closer and closer to another costly foreign war”, he added.

–IANS