United States President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he has instructed federal officials to reopen Venezuelan airspace for commercial flights.
Speaking from the White House during a cabinet meeting, the U.S President noted that the decision follows direct communication with Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez, marking a pivot toward normalizing travel between the two nations following the recent ouster of Nicolás Maduro.
The directive comes as the Trump administration is exploring a “phased approach” to restoring diplomatic ties.
Earlier this week, the State Department notified Congress of plans to potentially reopen the long-shuttered U.S. Embassy in Caracas.
Trump emphasized that the move to reopen Venezuelan airspace for commercial flights is a priority for the Department of Transportation, with instructions already issued to Secretary Sean Duffy to facilitate the transition by the end of Thursday.
“I want to thank the leadership of Venezuela. We’re getting along really well with them. The relationships have been very strong, very good, and they have informed me that they feel this very good security, very strong security,” Trump said.
The president said that major oil companies are going to Venezuela now, “scouting it out and picking their locations, and they’ll be bringing back tremendous wealth for Venezuela and for the United States.”
Trump said he had just spoken with the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, and that he informed her that the U.S. is “going to be opening up all commercial airspace over Venezuela.”
“American citizens will be very shortly, able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there … it’s under very strong control,” he said. “So I’ve instructed Sean Duffy and everybody else concerned, including the military, that if you would, by the end of today, I’d like you to have the airspace over Venezuela so that planes can go to Venezuela. OK?” Trump said to the transportation secretary.
The announcement by Trump to reopen Venezuelan airspace comes after the U.S military forces conducted an operation in Caracas, Venezuela, resulting in the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
It was gathered that Venezuelan President Maduro was captured by military operatives of the U.S Delta Force.
The couple has since made an appearance before a court in New York, where they are charged in a federal drug-trafficking conspiracy indictment.
The charges against them include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and various weapons-related offenses involving machine guns and destructive devices.
They both pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against them.
Following the capture of Maduro, Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president on Monday by the country’s lawmakers.
