Donald Trump has ordered the immediate reopening of commercial airspace over Venezuela, weeks after US military forces toppled the dictator Nicolás Maduro. Speaking at the White House during his cabinet's first meeting of the year, the president said he had informed Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, of the decision in a telephone conversation.
“We're going to be opening up all commercial airspace over Venezuela,” Trump told the gathering on Thursday. “American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela and they'll be safe there.” He said he had instructed US transportation secretary Sean Duffy and Pentagon officials to implement the change by the end of the day.
Direct commercial passenger and cargo flights between the US and Venezuela have been suspended since May 2019, when the Department of Transportation ruled that conditions in the country posed unacceptable safety risks. In November, Trump declared the airspace “closed in its entirety”, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to warn pilots and airlines to cancel services.
Trump's announcement marks a further step in the rapid normalisation of relations between Washington and Caracas under the interim government, which is largely composed of Maduro's former subordinates. The president revealed that major US oil companies were already on the ground in Venezuela assessing potential operations.
“We have the major oil companies going to Venezuela now, scouting it out and picking their locations, and they'll be bringing back tremendous wealth for Venezuela and for the United States,” he said. Rodríguez, who once oversaw the feared Sebin intelligence agency, has signalled willingness to accommodate US demands while occasionally voicing defiance. Earlier this week, she said Washington had agreed to unblock Venezuela's foreign-held sovereign assets for healthcare and energy purchases.
American Airlines, the last US carrier to fly to Venezuela before suspending services in March 2019, announced on Thursday that it intended to reinstate nonstop flights in the coming months.
