Flights returning migrants deported by the US Venezuela will continue though Confirmation by President Trump That the airspace of the South American country should be considered closed.
the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro It announced on Tuesday that the flights will operate twice a week following a request from the Trump administration. This has reversed the announcement made by the Venezuelan government on Saturday by US immigration authorities unilaterally suspended flights.
A request to fly and land on US-based Eastern Airlines on Monday requires permission to arrive on Wednesday. The agreement allows flights on a Boeing 777-200 from Phoenix, Arizona to land at Maiquetía International Airport, the Venezuelan government said. The application was made public on Tuesday by the Venezuelan Foreign Minister.
Venezuelans have been steadily deported back to their country this year after Maduro, Under pressure from the White HouseMaduro, who scrapped a long-standing US policy of not accepting deportees, has since hailed the return as a victory, saying Venezuelans are returning from harsh US detention conditions.
Migrants regularly arrive at the airport outside the capital, Caracas, on flights operated by a US government contractor or Venezuela’s state airline. More than 13,000 immigrants have returned on boarded flights this year, the last of which arrived on Friday.
The US-Venezuela repatriation deal has drawn scrutiny from human rights organizations, although Trump administration officials have highlighted the diplomatic deal as an important tool to curb the influence of transnational criminal groups. The flights have continued despite US military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific and off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast.
Trump administration officials say the combination of targeted strikes and deportation flights disrupts several strategies. Aragua Train gangs and other organized criminal networks that have been linked to drug trafficking and violent crime across America.
The Trump administration has also claimed that some drug cartels are controlled by Maduro. Mr Trump said on Tuesday that the US would soon begin conducting strikes on landalthough he did not specify where and said that attacks could occur in countries other than Venezuela, suggesting that Colombia may have military attacks.
“You know, the ground is much easier, it’s much easier. And we know the routes they take,” Mr. Trump told reporters. He met with his cabinet at the White House. “We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live. And we’ll start that soon.”
Later, when asked for details, the president said he was talking about countries that are manufacturing and selling fentanyl or cocaine. The president said he heard that Colombia is manufacturing cocaine and selling it to the US
Colombia is, in fact, the world’s leading producer of cocaine.
“Anyone who is doing that and selling it into our country can be attacked,” Mr. Trump said. A few moments later he added: “Not only Venezuela.”
Tuesday’s Board of Governors was among the calls for investigation bipartisan concerns in Congress that a a follow-up strike on a suspected drug vessel it may be a war crime.
As tensions between the two countries continue to rise, Pope Leo XVI on Tuesday urged the US to continue dialogue and even economic pressure on Venezuela to achieve its goals, rather than threats of military action.
Leo, the first pope in history, told reporters on the papal plane Back from Lebanon The Venezuelan bishops’ conference and the Vatican embassy in Caracas were trying to calm the situation and pay attention to the situation of ordinary Venezuelans.
“The voices coming from the US change, sometimes with a certain frequency,” he said. “On the one hand, it seems that there was a telephone conversation between the two presidents, on the other hand, there is this risk, the possibility of an activity, an operation including the invasion of Venezuelan territory.”
He insisted that he had no more information. “I think again it’s better to look for ways of dialogue, maybe pressure – including economic pressure – but look for other ways to change, if the United States wants to do that.”