MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela revokes licenses from foreign airlines abiding by FAA warning

Cabello said Caracas has the right to decide who flies and who does not

Venezuela's Chavista regime has revoked the operating concessions from the foreign carriers Iberia, Air Europa, TAP, Avianca, LATAM, Turkish, and GOL after they abided by the United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) not to serve the South American country, given the ongoing military developments there, which pose a “potentially dangerous situation” in the Caribbean.

The decision was announced after a 48-hour deadline set by Caracas for the airlines to resume operations expired on Wednesday. The Bolivarian administration accused the companies of “joining the actions of terrorism” sponsored by Washington.

Tensions have been escalating since the US deployment, including warships and the world's largest aircraft carrier (the USS Gerald Ford) to the Caribbean under the pretense of fighting drug trafficking.

Earlier this week, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello had warned that President Nicolás Maduro's administration “decides who flies and who does not.”

The flight suspensions began after the FAA urged commercial flights on Friday to “exercise extreme caution” when flying over Venezuelan territory and the southern Caribbean, citing the “potentially dangerous context in the region.”

“The threats could represent a potential risk for aircraft at all altitudes, including during overflight, arrival, and departure phases of the flight,” affecting aircraft even on the ground, the FAA warned.

Iberia said it would maintain its flight cancellations until Dec. 1, following recommendations from the Spanish State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA).

The US military campaign has consisted of systematically targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, resulting in over 80 deaths.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has issued a statement maintaining its “commitment to reestablish operations to and from Venezuela as soon as conditions permit.”

Additionally, Cabello criticized the Dominican Republic for authorizing the provisional use of two airports by the United States as part of its anti-narcotics operation.

“In imperial madness, they threaten us every day, they invent something every day, and if they don't invent it, they recycle it,” Cabello said, sarcastically adding that the US' access to the airports was nothing new. ”I feel like laughing when I see today that the President of the Dominican Republic (Luis Abinader) authorizes US flights. You hadn't been born yet, and that airport already belonged to the gringos. But they recycle,“ the second most powerful figure in Chavismo stressed during his weekly broadcast show.

He insisted that the anti-drug motive was an excuse to seize Venezuela's natural resources. ”Today, for the whole world, it is clear that the United States wants to steal Venezuela's natural resources. That is why they disguise everything to try to justify it,“ he underlined while noting that the ”Cartel de los Soles“ —which the US recently designated as a terrorist organization and is allegedly commanded by Maduro— was a baseless ”invention.”

Cabello's statement came after Dominican President Luis Abinader and US War Secretary Pete Hegseth met in Santo Domingo and confirmed the agreement.