Donald Trump’s latest post on Truth Social telling “airlines, pilots, drug dealers, and human traffickers” that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela is “closed in its entirety” is not a joke. It is a dangerous escalation with no legal basis and enormous regional consequences. CODEPINK forcefully condemns this reckless threat and the normalization of language that edges the United States closer to war.
The United States has no authority to close another country’s airspace. Under international law, only Venezuela can determine the status of its skies and enforcing a foreign no-fly zone without UN authorization or host-state consent would constitute an act of war. Even if unenforced, Trump’s declaration functions as an improvised, extralegal no-fly zone created through fear, FAA warnings, and military pressure. And it is being done without congressional approval, UN authorization, or any credible evidence of a national security threat.
This comes on top of a rapid series of escalatory moves: the FAA’s new warnings on flights to and near Venezuela, the baseless “foreign terrorist organization” designation against the Venezuelan military, the revival of conspiracy theories about Venezuelan interference the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and the administration’s false claims that President Maduro controls organized-crime groups. All of this is happening despite new polling showing that nearly 70% of Americans oppose U.S. military strikes on Venezuela (CBS News, 11/24/25). Together, these actions form a familiar pattern: manufacture a crisis, then paint a sovereign government as a danger to U.S. interests, and finally use the manufactured urgency to justify military measures that would otherwise be politically impossible.
Trying to “close” the airspace of another country is an act of aggression. It risks flight disruptions, economic panic, and aviation accidents. It is also an attempt to isolate Venezuela without admitting that the U.S. is imposing a de facto blockade.
The people of Venezuela have lived with the consequences of Washington’s reckless interventions. They deserve peace, not another manufactured war. Diplomacy, not domination, remains the only path that respects international law and regional sovereignty.
Hands off Venezuela.
Hands off Latin America.
