President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after speaking to troops via video from his Mar-a-Lago estate on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, in Palm Beach, Florida.
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Alex Brandon/AP
The Venezuelan government condemned President Trump’s statement on Saturday calling for the closure of airspace over Venezuela.
In a Truth Social postTrump said: “To all airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers, please consider that AIRSPACE OVER AND AROUND VENEZUELA IS COMPLETELY CLOSED.”
The Venezuelan government responded with a statement saying Trump’s comments violate international law and are a “colonialist threat” to the country’s sovereignty.
“No authority outside the Venezuelan institutional framework has the power to interfere, block or condition the use of international airspace,” the statement said.
Sunday afternoon ashes, flight radar24 It shows planes that continue to fly in Venezuelan airspace.
This occurs a day after the Senate and House Armed Services Committees They said they would investigate the Pentagon later Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave the order to kill all crew members aboard a ship suspected of smuggling drugs into the Caribbean in September. NPR has confirmed the Washington Post report.
The army has been carried out at least 21 strikes and killed at least 82 people on suspected drug ships as part of “Operation Southern Spear,” a campaign the Trump administration says aims to combat drug trafficking.
Venezuela said in its statement that “such statements represent an explicit use of force, which is prohibited by Article 2, paragraph 4 of the United Nations Charter.”
Democrats have also sharply criticized the administration’s strategy, saying the military did not have sufficient evidence that the ships were carrying drugs before carrying out the attacks. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, told ABC’S This week Sunday it is possible that the military’s actions will be considered a “war crime” and that Hegseth will be held accountable.
“They’ve never presented the information they have here to the public,” Van Hollen said, “but it could be worse than that, right? If that theory is wrong, then it’s simple murder.”
However, Republican Senator Eric Schmitt, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News that Trump is acting “within his Article 2 powers” when it comes to curbing drug smuggling by attacking ships.
“I think it’s a two-part strategy,” Schmitt said. “One is to get rid of the precursors that come from China and then eliminate the cartels that distribute them and bring them to the United States of America.”
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have expressed frustration with Trump’s stance on Venezuela and that the Trump administration carried out the attacks without legislative approval.
“Trump’s reckless actions toward Venezuela are pushing the United States ever closer to another costly foreign war,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. published in X on Saturday, hours after Trump’s post about Venezuelan airspace.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally, also posted Saturday saying, “Reminder, Congress has the sole power to declare war.”