Trump tells airlines Venezuelan airspace should be considered closed

US President Donald Trump said the airspace around Venezuela should be considered closed.

“All airlines, pilots, drug dealers, and human traffickers, please consider a complete closure of airspace over and around Venezuela,” Trump said in a social media post.

The U.S. does not legally have the authority to close another country’s airspace, but Trump’s post could cause travel uncertainty and prevent airlines from operating there.

The United States has been building a military presence in the Caribbean in what officials say is an effort to combat drug smuggling. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has dismissed U.S. accusations of drug trafficking as an effort to oust him.

Venezuela has yet to respond to Trump’s remarks. The White House did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

Trump’s comments came days after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines of “increased military activity in and around Venezuela.”

Venezuela on Wednesday banned six major international airlines – Iberia, TAP Air Portugal, GOL, LATAM, Avianca and Turkish Airlines – from landing in the country after they failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to resume flights.

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

It insists the deployment is the largest U.S. deployment to the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama and is aimed at combating drug trafficking.

On Thursday, Trump warned that the United States would “soon” begin stopping Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land.”

The US military has carried out at least 21 attacks on ships allegedly carrying drugs, killing more than 80 people. However, the United States has yet to provide evidence that the ships were carrying drugs.

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

The US has also designated the Cartel de los Soles – a group it says is led by Maduro – as a foreign terrorist organization.

Labeling an organization as a terrorist organization gives U.S. law enforcement and military agencies broader powers to target and disrupt the group.

Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs “categorically, resolutely and absolutely rejects” the designation.

Venezuela’s Interior and Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello, an alleged senior member of the cartel, has long called it an “invention.”

The U.S. State Department insists that the Sun Group not only exists but has “corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislative, and judicial branches.”