However, on Thursday, international officials and airline representatives criticized the choice as being “disproportionate.”
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Venezuela’s civil aviation authority announced a day earlier that it had suspended permits for air travel companies, including LATAM, LATAM, LATAM, and Iberia, Portugal, TAP, Colombia, Avianca, Brazil, GOL, and GOL, which have their headquarters in Chile and Brazil.
It accused the airlines and nbsp of supporting “state terrorism initiatives promoted by the United States.”
In recent months, Venezuela’s government has been awash with rumors of a possible US military attack.
Last week, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a warning to airlines about a “potentially hazardous situation” in Venezuelan airspace due to “worsening security situation and heightened military activity.” Some airlines were forced to cancel flights as a result of that.
However, on Thursday, Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel criticized Venezuela’s response to the cancellations.
Rangel stated that due to security concerns, his country’s embassy in Venezuela would contact the country’s government and that flights had only been temporarily halted.
“We have to let the Venezuelan authorities know that this action is disproportionate, that we have no intention of reversing our routes to Venezuela, and that we have done it solely for security reasons,” he said through our embassy.
Since US President Donald Trump re-elected for a second term in office, tensions between the US and Venezuela have reached a fever pitch.
On the premise of preventing illegal drug trafficking, the Trump administration has overseen a sizable increase in military forces in the Caribbean.
However, Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, has responded by making his own military preparations in response to the US troop movements as a precursor to attacks aimed at destabilizing his government.
Despite Maduro’s claims otherwise, the US government has long been against Maduro for his history of human rights violations. The US government recently acknowledged the Venezuelan opposition as the legitimate winner of the 2024 presidential election.
At least 21 lethal airstrikes have been carried out on boats and other nautical vessels by the US since September, according to the US. There are 83 fatalities, according to estimates.
Without providing any proof, the Trump administration claimed that some of the victims’ deaths were connected to violent criminal organizations in Venezuela. According to international rights organizations and legal experts, those strikes are extrajudicial killings that violate international law.
Flights were abruptly canceled due to concerns about military action after the US warned airlines about security risks over Venezuela last week.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Venezuelan authorities issued a notification on Monday that airlines had 48 hours to resume flights there or face suspension of their operating rights.
In response to the cancellations, Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello remarked, “Keep your planes, and we will keep our dignity.”
An Iberiaian anonymous source, who was quoted by the news service AFP, stated that the airline hoped to resume flights “as soon as possible, as soon as full security conditions are met.”
Source: Aljazeera
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