Three major airlines canceled their flights from Venezuela this weekend. The reason was a warning from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which indicated on Friday that there was a “potentially dangerous situation” for air traffic to and from Venezuela.
This would be Avianca from Colombia, the Brazilian Gol and TAP Air from Portugal. Iberia, Spain’s largest airline, is canceling flights to the Venezuelan capital Caracas from Monday. Latam Airlines has also announced that it will cancel flights.
On Friday the FAA wrote that pilots had to be careful over Venezuela “due to the deteriorating security situation and increased military activity” in or around the South American country.
Tension around Venezuela has been rising for some time due to a huge troop build-up by the United States around the country’s territorial waters. US military bases have reopened and thousands of additional US troops have been deployed to the area.
Earlier this week, the USS Gerald R Ford, the US Navy’s largest and most modern aircraft carrier, arrived in the Caribbean Sea. Destroyers and submarines had already arrived in the area in the weeks before.
‘New phase’ of US operations
According to Reuters news agency the US will begin “a new phase of operations” around Venezuela in the coming days. It remains unclear exactly what kind of operations these are. US President Donald Trump previously hinted at a possible military intervention in Venezuela. According to Trump, the Venezuelan regime is involved in drug smuggling to the US, although it appears that the US government is mainly attempting to depose President Nicolás Maduro.
After this weekend, the US would like to brand the so-called Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. According to the US, Maduro and several Venezuelan army generals head this organization.
Although it is unclear whether the Cartel de los Soles really exists, both Trump and his Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have indicated that there will be more opportunities for an intervention if the organization is officially considered terrorist.
A first American operation on Venezuelan territory may take place on Sunday. The Washington Post writes about plans to have leaflets dropped above the capital Caracas by military aircraft. The leaflets allegedly contain information about the $50 million bounty that the US has placed on Maduro’s head.
The Venezuelan leader will celebrate his 63rd birthday on Sunday with a number of public events. The US would like to use this opportunity to increase pressure on Maduro through the leaflets by urging Venezuelans to extradite him.
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