US President Donald Trump escalated tensions with Venezuela on Saturday by warning pilots and airlines to consider Venezuelan airspace “closed,” prompting international carriers operating in the South American country to announce they are assessing the situation and taking precautions.

“To all airlines, pilots, drug traffickers, and human traffickers: Please consider that the airspace over and around Venezuela will remain closed in its entirety. Thank you for your attention! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP,” reads the president’s message posted on his social media account, Truth, which does not clarify any circumstances related to the closure.

The Venezuelan government repudiated Trump’s message and criticized him for “unprecedentedly” attempting to “give orders and threaten the sovereignty” of this nation.

In a statement published by Foreign Minister Yván Gil, the Nicolás Maduro administration denounced “before the world” that such statements “represent an explicit threat of the use of force,” which, it asserted, is “clearly and unequivocally prohibited” by the Charter of the United Nations, and considered it an “attempt at intimidation.”

Trump posted this message a day after the New York Times reported an alleged phone conversation he had with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to explore a possible meeting, although that contact has not been officially confirmed or denied by either party.

The news of the conversation comes a day after Trump warned that his Armed Forces will act “very soon” on the ground against alleged “Venezuelan drug traffickers,” while maintaining the naval deployment in the Caribbean.

Airlines evaluate

The Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, the country’s main airport, maintained normal operations throughout the day, despite the warning from the US president.

The airfield, which serves Caracas , received flights during the day from Barbados, Bogota, Panama, Curacao and Havana, as confirmed by EFE on a tour.

Air operations also continued without incident at La Chinita International Airport, located in Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia state (west, bordering Colombia), according to schedules released by the airlines.

Following Trump’s announcement, Panamanian airline Copa reported that it will continue operating in Venezuela, although it does so “with high levels of alert and caution, only during daylight hours.”

Similarly, the Colombian airline Wingo stated that it is maintaining operations to and from the oil-producing country because, it claimed, it has not received official notification, through formal channels, “regarding restrictions or closure of Venezuelan airspace.”

“We continue to constantly monitor the safety of that airspace, in coordination with local and international authorities, and if conditions change we will immediately adjust our operation,” a company source explained to EFE.

For the time being, Copa, Wingo, Boliviana de Aviación and Satena, as well as the local companies Avior and Conviasa (state-owned), maintain their operations in Venezuela.

Migrant flights suspended

The Venezuelan government also denounced that with the announcement made by Trump this Saturday, repatriation flights of migrants from US territory have been suspended “unilaterally”.

The Foreign Ministry indicated that to date, 75 repatriation flights have been made for 13,956 migrants who “have been received with love and absolute solidarity.”

This week two flights arrived in Venezuela from the United States, despite the fact that on November 21 the US aviation authority urged “extreme caution” when flying over Venezuela and the southern Caribbean due to what it considers “a potentially dangerous situation” in the area.

This led several airlines , such as Iberia, Plus Ultra, Air Europa, Avianca and Turkish Airlines, to suspend their flights in the South American country.

The Chavista government gave them a 48-hour deadline to resume operations, and when they failed to do so, it revoked the traffic permits of Iberia, Turkish Airlines, Gol, Avianca, Tap, and Latam Colombia.

“Illegitimate” attack

In response to the tension between Venezuela and the United States, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez condemned the US announcement on Saturday to close Venezuelan airspace, calling it the “prelude” to an “illegitimate attack.”

Rodríguez added on his social media that Washington’s announcement is an “aggressive act for which no State has authority outside its national borders and should call for the strongest rejection from the international community.”

Cuba, a historical ally of Venezuela, has warned since the beginning of the tensions that what it considers Washington’s “pretexts” for a possible military aggression against Venezuela “cannot be accepted legally or morally.”

Likewise, the Nicaraguan government reaffirmed its support for President Maduro and assured him of its “full and permanent” solidarity.