The warnings come as Mexico’s Sheinbaum calls for ‘impressive results’ to tackle drug cartels after Trump’s strike threats.
Published on January 17, 2026
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued notices to airlines urging them to exercise caution due to “military operations” in Mexico and other Central American countries, as well as Ecuador and Colombia.
On Friday, the FAA issued a series of advisories that come amid the ongoing US military buildup in the Latin American region, including US military attacks on VenezuelaAnd US President Donald Trump’s warnings to Cuba and threats of strikes against drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia have edged many in the region.
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The FAA has issued warnings of “potentially hazardous conditions” for several areas, including the Pacific Ocean and the upper Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez.
The warnings issued Friday will last 60 days, the FAA said.
Last month, a JetBlue passenger jet bound for New York took evasive action Collision in the middle With a US Air Force tanker plane near Venezuela.
JetBlue Flight 1112 had left the Caribbean nation of Curacao and was flying about 64km (40 miles) off the coast of Venezuela when the Airbus aircraft encountered an Air Force jet whose transponder was not active.
Following the January 3 attack by US forces on Caracas and the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Trump has raised the possibility of other military operations in the region, including Against Colombia.
Trump said last week that the cartels were running Mexico and that the US would “hit the ground running” to counter them, one of his threats to deploy US military forces against drug traffickers.
Following the attack on Venezuela, the FAA banned flights throughout the Caribbean, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights by major airlines.
Mexico reported ‘impressive results’
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that efforts to crack down on Mexican drug cartels and slow migration northward were showing “impressive results,” after Trump threatened to target drug cartels inside Mexico.
Sheinbaum has sought to placate Trump and work to build stronger ties between the Mexican and US administrations.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mexican Foreign Secretary Juan Ramon de la Fuente issued a joint statement after the phone call, saying they agreed that “more must be done to counter shared threats.”
Sheinbaum said in her morning news briefing on the call Friday that the Mexican government had made significant progress, citing a sharp drop in homicide rates, fewer fentanyls found by U.S. officials at the border and less immigration.
The president reiterated her call for Washington to stop Arms Trafficking came to Mexico from the US and highlighted drug use in the US as a key factor fueling cartel violence in Mexico.
“The other side has to play its part as well. This consumption crisis that they have also has to be addressed from a public health perspective, through an educational campaign,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum and Trump spoke by phone last week, with the Mexican leader telling her counterpart that US intervention in Mexico was unnecessary.