Fresh tension flared on Saturday after United States President Donald Trump announced that the airspace above and around Venezuela should be treated as fully closed.
In a post shared on X, he addressed airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers, warning them to consider the entire Venezuelan airspace inaccessible.
Venezuelan officials have not yet issued any reaction to the declaration, which comes amid renewed hostilities between both countries.
Pressure has been rising in recent months as the United States intensified operations linked to alleged Venezuelan drug trafficking networks.
Deadly strikes on vessels accused of smuggling have resulted in multiple deaths, drawing condemnation from United Nations experts who described the attacks as extrajudicial.
The developments also pushed the United Kingdom to halt intelligence sharing with the United States as London insisted it did not want to be associated with operations it believed fell outside agreed boundaries.
Further escalation appeared likely on Thursday when Trump hinted that United States forces could soon begin targeting suspected traffickers on Venezuelan soil.
Maduro responded by insisting that Venezuela would not succumb to threats, accusing Washington of seeking to destabilise his administration.
Relations between both countries remain strained, with analysts warning that the United States may be laying the groundwork for an unlawful attempt to remove Maduro from office.
Tension grew further in August when the Trump administration doubled the reward for information that could lead to Maduro’s arrest, raising the bounty from twenty five million dollars to fifty million dollars.
