A plane from the United States landed Friday at Venezuela’s main airport carrying 172 deportees, at a moment when the country has been left practically isolated by the mass suspension of international flights following a US air safety alert. Deportation flights that began in February to repatriate Venezuelan migrants were briefly suspended after President Donald Trump wrote Sunday on his social network that the airspace over Venezuela was “totally closed.”
The measure was taken amid a crisis between Caracas and Washington, which since August has carried out a deployment in the Caribbean that includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier as part of its anti-narcotics campaign. A first US-registered plane arrived Wednesday with 266 Venezuelans. Another arrived this Friday with 266 migrants.
The Venezuelan government said that on the flight from Phoenix, Arizona, there were five children, 26 women and 141 men. This brings the total number of Venezuelans repatriated so far in 2025 to 18,260. Of that total, 14,579 correspond to deportees from the United States.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on November 21 called for “extreme caution” when flying over Venezuela and the southern Caribbean. Almost all international airlines suspended operations for “security” reasons and due to “intermittent navigation signals,” leaving Venezuela practically cut off.
Trump ordered a deployment of military ships and aircraft in the Caribbean in August, under the banner of the fight against drug trafficking. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro says the US military maneuvers seek to force a “regime change” in the country and seize its vast oil reserves.
US military forces have bombed some 21 vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific since September 2, allegedly linked to drug trafficking. The attacks have left at least 87 dead. Venezuela has denounced the bombings of vessels, calling them “extrajudicial executions.”
