Six international airlines, including Spain’s Iberia and Portugal’s TAP, have suspended their flights to and from Venezuela due to risks reported by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the aviation authority in the United States. On Friday, the FAA recommended that airlines flying over Venezuela pay attention to a “potentially dangerous” situation related to “deteriorating security conditions and increased military activity” in the country due to ongoing tensions with the United States.
Since late August, the administration of US President Donald Trump has continued to put pressure on Nicolás Maduro’s regime by gathering military ships in the waters around the country that it claims are used for anti-drug operations: since then the United States has attacked around twenty ships suspected of being used to transport drugs from Venezuela, killing around 80 people on board. Maduro initially reacted with hostility, but later began using pacifist rhetoric.
Other companies involved are Colombia’s Avianca, Chile’s Latam, Brazil’s GOL, and Caribbean, the national airline of Trinidad and Tobago. All direct flights between the United States and Venezuela, both commercial and cargo, have been suspended since 2019. However, some American companies fly over Venezuela while they are directed to other South American countries and vice versa.
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