Venezuela bans six international airlines as tensions escalate

Venezuela has banned six major international airlines from landing in the country after they failed to resume flights within a 48-hour deadline.

Airlines temporarily halted routes to the capital Caracas after the United States warned of “increased military activity” in the region.

The Venezuelan government was outraged and issued an ultimatum to airlines, which expired on Wednesday. Although some smaller airlines continue to fly to Venezuela, thousands of passengers are still affected.

The United States has deployed large numbers of troops to waters off Venezuela, saying it is to combat drug trafficking, but Venezuela’s leader has denounced it as an attempt to overthrow him.

Venezuela’s Civil Aviation Authority, reporting to the country’s Ministry of Transport, announced on Wednesday that Iberia, TAP Air Portugal, Gol Airlines, LATAM Airlines, Avianca and Turkish Airlines would lose their landing rights immediately.

It also accused airlines of “joining state terrorism promoted by the U.S. government and unilaterally suspending commercial aviation operations” in reference to increased U.S. military activity off the coast of Venezuela.

The United States has deployed 15,000 troops and the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, within striking distance of Venezuela.

The United States said the deployment was its largest in the region since the invasion of Panama in 1989 and was aimed at combating drug trafficking.

The US military has carried out at least 21 attacks on ships allegedly carrying drugs, killing more than 80 people.

However, they provided no evidence that the ships were carrying drugs, and many analysts noted that the scale of the U.S. deployment was unusually large for an anti-drug operation.

The Venezuelan government believes the operation is aimed at ousting President Nicolás Maduro, whose re-election last year has been denounced as rigged by the Venezuelan opposition and many foreign countries.

Amid rising tensions, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday issued a warning to flight operators operating out of Caracas International Airport Maiquetia.

It urged airlines to “exercise caution at all altitudes due to the deteriorating security situation and heightened military activity in and around Venezuela.”

It was following this warning that the now-banned airline suspended flights to Venezuela.

Aviation industry body International Air Transport Association (Iata) tried to calm the situation by stressing that its member airlines were eager to resume operations, but failed to appease the Venezuelan government.

In recent days, both Maduro and U.S. President Donald Trump have expressed a willingness to hold direct talks.

Asked about the incident aboard Air Force One, Trump said he would “probably talk to Maduro” but also warned that “we can do things the easy way, and that’s fine, and if we have to do it the hard way, that’s fine too.”

Maduro, meanwhile, uploaded a video of himself driving around Caracas, pointing at Christmas decorations and seemingly trying to show that life in the city was normal.