Caracas’ reaction to Trump’s message about Venezuela’s airspace

According to RCO News Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela issued a statement on Saturday evening saying: “This is a new, extreme, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people.”

“Venezuela strongly rejects the public message published today on social media by the President of the United States in which he tries to extraterritorially exercise the illegitimate jurisdiction of the United States in Venezuela by recklessly trying to issue an order and threaten the sovereignty of the national airspace, territorial integrity, security of aviation, and the full sovereignty of the Venezuelan government,” the official statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, which was also published by the website of the ministry, said.

On Saturday, US President Donald Trump asked all airlines, pilots, as well as drug and human traffickers to “consider the airspace over Venezuela and its surrounding areas closed.”

The release of this message took place in a situation where tensions between Washington and Caracas have intensified in recent months and the United States has carried out numerous military and security operations in the Caribbean and around Venezuela.

The Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs further emphasized: “Furthermore, this attempt at intimidation violates Article 1 of the Charter, whose fundamental purpose is to maintain international peace and security.” “Venezuela demands respect for its airspace, which is protected under the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization and confirmed in the Chicago Convention of 1944, Article 1 of which definitively recognizes that each country has exclusive and absolute sovereignty over the airspace above its territory.”

The ministry noted: “Venezuela does not accept orders, threats or interference from any foreign power.” And no authority outside the Venezuelan institutions has the power to interfere, block or condition the use of the national airspace.

In the end, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela added: “We directly request the international community, the independent governments of the world, the United Nations and relevant multilateral organizations to firmly reject this immoral act of aggression, which is a threat to the sovereignty and security of our land, the Caribbean and northern South America.” “Venezuela will respond with dignity and with all the power granted by international law and the anti-imperialist spirit of our people.”

These messages and reactions were published while the “New York Times” newspaper wrote in a report citing people who were involved in the Trump administration’s discussions about a possible attack on Venezuela: “The primary targets could be drug-related facilities, including production or storage facilities used by Colombian cartels that transport cocaine through Venezuela.”

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has repeatedly mentioned that the increase in US military presence in the region is aimed at “overthrow” him.

In August, Washington doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million, accusing him of “connections to drug traffickers and criminal gangs”; A charge that Maduro has denied.

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