Venezuela calls Trump’s call to close airspace a ‘colonialist threat’ : NPR

The Venezuelan government condemned President Trump's statement on Saturday calling for the closure of airspace over Venezuela.

In the social publication “Pravda”Trump said: “To all airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers, please consider the AIR SPACE OVER AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA COMPLETELY CLOSED.”

Government of Venezuela responded with a statement saying Trump's comments violated international law and constituted a “colonial threat” to the country's sovereignty.

“No authority outside the institutional framework of Venezuela has the authority to interfere with, block or condition the use of international airspace,” the statement said.

As of Sunday afternoon, Flytradar24 planes are shown continuing to fly in Venezuelan airspace.

This happens the day after the Senate meeting and House Armed Services Committees they said they would check the Pentagon after Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the killing of all crew members aboard a ship suspected of drug smuggling in the Caribbean in September. NPR confirmed the Washington Post report.

The military carried out minimum 21 hits and killed at least 82 people on suspected drug boats as part of Operation Southern Lance, a campaign the Trump administration says is aimed at combating drug trafficking.

Venezuela said in a statement that “such statements constitute a clear use of force, which is prohibited by Article 2, paragraph 4, of the Charter of the United Nations.”

Democrats also sharply criticized the administration's strategy, saying the military did not have enough evidence that the boats were carrying drugs before striking. Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, told ABC'S this week on Sunday, it was possible that the military's actions could be considered a “war crime” and that Hegseth should be brought to justice.

“They never provided the public with the information they had,” Van Hollen said. “But it could be worse, couldn’t it? If this theory is wrong, then it is simple murder.”

However, Republican Senator Eric Schmitt, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said: Sunday morning futures on Fox News, Trump is acting “within the limits of his Article 2 authority” when it comes to curbing drug smuggling by targeting boats.

“I think it's a two-part strategy,” Schmitt said. “One is to get rid of the precursors coming from China and then take down the cartels that distribute them and bring them into the United States of America.”

Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have expressed disappointment with Trump's stance on Venezuela and that the Trump administration carried out the strikes without legislative approval.

“Trump's reckless actions toward Venezuela are pushing America closer and closer to another costly foreign war,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer published on X on Saturday, hours after Trump posted about Venezuelan airspace.

GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally, also posted a message Saturday saying, “As a reminder, Congress has the sole power to declare war.”