Maduro revokes licenses to airlines that suspended their routes after Trump's warning
The Caribbean country's Civil Aviation Authority issued a publication with the measure accusing the companies of "joining the actions of state terrorism promoted by the Government of the United States, unilaterally suspending their airline operations."
A Venezuelan passenger looks at a LATAM plane (File).
Venezuela said Wednesday that it revoked the operating permits of six airlines it accused of “terrorism” after they suspended their routes in response to an alert issued by the United States about military activity in the region.
The measure applies to Spain's Iberia, Portugal's TAP, Colombia's Avianca, the Colombian subsidiary of Chile's Chilean-Brazilian Latam, Brazil's GOLand Turkey's Turkish, according to the Authority for Civil Aviation (Inac) in a post on Instagram.
The statement accused them of “joining the state-terrorism actions promoted by the U.S. government by unilaterally suspending their commercial flight operations,” the text indicated.
US warning on aviation security in the region
United States it urged aircraft flying over Venezuelan airspace last week to "exercise extreme caution" due to the "worsening security situation and increased military activity in and around Venezuela."
The warning comes amid the U.S. military deployment in the area for anti-drug trafficking operations, which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro insists is aimed at his overthrow.
The six companies now affected then announced the temporary suspension of their activities. Venezuela’s Transport Ministry gave them 48 hours on Monday to resume flights. That deadline expired at noon Wednesday, and all of them kept the suspension in place.
"Stay with your planes"
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello criticized Washington's alert and defended Venezuela's "sovereign" right to decide which companies operate in the Caribbean country. "Keep your planes and we will keep our dignity," Cabello said. "Now, those who are here, who came from other countries, stay here," he added with a chuckle on Wednesday.
The suspension of flights has so far affected more than 8,000 passengers on at least 40 different flights, according to data from the National Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (Avavit) consulted by AFP.
In recent days there has been evidence of constant activity by U.S. combat aircraft a few tens of kilometers from the Venezuelan coast, according to aircraft tracking sites.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino denounced on Tuesday that the United States "has its weapons ready for war. Bombers, ships, destroyers, submarines, all equipped with guided missiles, fighter planes approaching the coasts, trying to intimidate a people", he said.
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