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Trump says Venezuela airspace to be shut ‘in its entirety’ as tensions rise

Trump says Venezuela airspace to be shut ‘in its entirety’ as tensions rise
By Virginia Pietromarchi and Farah Najjar
Published On 29 Nov 2025

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29 Nov 2025 - 22:59
 (22:59 GMT)

Thanks for joining us

Here’s a comprehensive news story wrapping all the US-Venezuela tensions that escalated today.

For a timeline of 26 years of fraught US-Venezuela relations, see here.

And check out our dedicated Venezuela page here.

29 Nov 2025 - 22:50
 (22:50 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

This live page is about to close. Here are the day’s main developments:

  • US President Donald Trump declared the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela “closed in its entirety” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
  • The statement comes as Trump’s administration piles pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government with a major military deployment in the Caribbean that includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier.
  • Venezuela has denounced Trump’s “colonialist threat”, calling it an “extravagant, illegal, and unjustified aggression”.
  • Cuba has reaffirmed its support for Venezuela with a statement from the foreign minister describing Trump’s move as “an escalation of military aggression and psychological warfare”.
  • The White House has not responded to questions about what Trump posted, and it remains unclear whether he’s announcing a new policy or simply reinforcing his campaign against Maduro.
29 Nov 2025 - 22:40
 (22:40 GMT)

Who are Venezuela’s main trade partners?

In 2023, China was Venezuela’s second-largest trading partner, accounting for almost 10 percent of its total exports, half of which were petroleum coke.

In 2023, crude petroleum accounted for half of Venezuela’s exports. The US was Venezuela’s largest trading partner, buying half of Venezuela’s exports, mostly crude petroleum.

 

29 Nov 2025 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)
Analysis

Trump’s Venezuela airspace threat: ‘that’s how he works a deal’

Charles Samuel Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Venezuela and current professor of international relations at Georgia Tech, says he’s sceptical the US president will order a ground invasion of the country.

“Donald Trump sees himself as a negotiator; he says that over and over again, and that’s how he works a deal. You put pressure on people, and you’re open to people. That’s what he’s doing in Ukraine, and that’s what he’s doing in Venezuela,” Shapiro told Al Jazeera.

“He wants to get rid of Maduro, and he wants to do it without putting US forces on the ground for domestic political reasons. Venezuela is a big country with a population of 30 million. It would require loads of troops.”

He noted there’s a big difference between having an armada of warships off Venezuela’s coast and putting American boots on the ground.

“Whenever you do that troops are going to get killed … That’s what America Firsters, Trump’s supporters, want to avoid.”

29 Nov 2025 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)

Spate of US attacks in the Caribbean

By Hanna Duggal and AJLabs

The US military has carried out at least 21 deadly strikes on vessels off Venezuela’s coast, in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since September 2, marking the most intense US military activity in Latin America since the US invasion of Panama in 1989.

The strikes, conducted under the authority of the US Southern Command, have killed at least 83 people, according to statements by US President Donald Trump and senior US defence officials.

The map below shows the approximate locations of these attacks, according to data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.

Most of the strikes occurred close to the Venezuelan coast and in international waters, raising questions about the legality of the US use of force, especially when no imminent threat was present.

Read more here.

29 Nov 2025 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)

Pentagon reportedly in the dark about Trump’s airspace announcement

By Alan Fisher

Reporting from Washington DC

The Reuters news agency in the last couple of hours has been reporting that officials at the Pentagon weren’t prepared for this. Effectively, what Donald Trump is doing is announcing a no-fly zone.

It takes a great deal of logistics, it takes a great deal of operational coordination, and it takes a lot of planning and resources. And while there’s a lot of US military in the area at the moment, it appears they were not geared up to start enforcing a no-fly zone.

Clearly, Venezuela is very angry and says what is happening here is very colonial, lacks respect for the country, and also for international law.

On social media, there are a number of people, particularly on the left, who are saying that Trump campaigned on no stupid foreign wars, and going into Venezuela would be exactly that. Surprisingly, they’re supported by a number of Trump’s own supporters.

One of the big things that stands out is, 24 hours ago, Trump announced he’s going to pardon the former Honduran president, who was convicted of smuggling 400 tonnes of cocaine into the United States. Many people would say Venezuela is nowhere near that size of operation.

29 Nov 2025 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)
Analysis

Trump holds authority for limited military action in Venezuela

Should the US president decide to attack Venezuela, he would not need Congress’s authorisation, which is required only if the US issues a declaration of war, says Adolfo Franco, a lawyer and Republican strategist.

“I don’t think Trump would declare war, but the president has authority for 60 to 90 days to do a great deal. It’s called the police action … Whatever happens in Venezuela would only require congressional action if military operations were to continue for a long period of time,” Franco told Al Jazeera.

Under the War Powers Resolution, if US armed forces are deployed and war hasn’t been declared, the president has 48 hours to notify Congress. The resolution also says the use of ground forces without Congress’s approval must be terminated within 60 days.

“We have intervened in surgical strikes throughout the world,” Franco said, referring to US air raids against Houthi rebels in Yemen and fighters in Somalia this year. “So these strikes, as commander in chief for national security issues, are absolutely within the president’s line.”

29 Nov 2025 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

What are Venezuela’s military capabilities?

The US armed forces dwarfs Venezuela’s, which is debilitated by a lack of training, low wages, and deteriorating equipment.

Although President Maduro, in power since 2013, has enjoyed military loyalty by placing officers in government roles, rank-and-file soldiers earn just $100 a month in local currency, about one-fifth of what studies say an average family needs to meet its basic needs.

Sources say desertions, which already occur in many units, could increase in the event of a US military attack.

The primary experience of Venezuelan troops in recent years has been confronting unarmed civilians during street protests.  Maduro has said there are eight million civilians training in militias.

The military’s equipment – much of it Russian-made and decades-old – is lacking. Caracas bought some 20 Sukhoi fighter jets in the 2000s, but they are considered lacking in comparison with US aircraft. Venezuela’s Russian-made helicopters, tanks, and shoulder-fired missiles are also outdated.

A soldier holds an Igla-S rocket launcher in Caracas, Venezuela [Jesus Vargas/Getty Images]
29 Nov 2025 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

Venezuela: World’s largest proven oil reserves

Venezuela is home to the largest known reserves of oil estimated at 303 billion barrels (Bbbl) as of 2023.

However, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Venezuela exported just $4.05bn worth of crude oil in 2023. This is far below other major exporters, including Saudi Arabia ($181bn), the US ($125bn) and Russia ($122bn).

Venezuela’s oil reserves are concentrated primarily in the Orinoco Belt, a vast region in the eastern part of the country that stretches across roughly 55,000sq km (21,235sq miles).

The Orinoco Belt holds extra heavy crude oil, which is highly viscous and dense, making it much harder and more expensive to extract than conventional crude. Producing oil from this region requires advanced techniques, such as steam injection and blending with lighter crudes to make it marketable.

29 Nov 2025 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

Photos: US military vessels and aircraft seen near Venezuela

The US Navy’s Gerald R Ford carrier strike group sails towards the Caribbean Sea [US Navy via Reuters]
The naval deployment is the largest in decades to the region [US Navy via Reuters]
US Marines keep watch while sailing towards the Caribbean [US Marine Corps via Reuters]

29 Nov 2025 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

White House still quiet on what Trump post really means

The White House has not responded to questions about what President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, and it’s unclear whether he is announcing a new policy or simply reinforcing his campaign against Venezuela’s Maduro.

The Republican president addressed his call for an aerial blockade to “Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers” – not Maduro.

US military forces have conducted bomber flights near Venezuela and the USS Gerald R Ford, its most advanced aircraft carrier, was sent to the area.

The Ford rounds off the largest buildup of US firepower in the region in generations. With its arrival, the Operation Southern Spear mission includes nearly a dozen naval ships and about 12,000 sailors and marines.

29 Nov 2025 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)
Infographic

Venezuela is home to about 28.4 million people, making it the 53rd most populous country in the world.

By area, Venezuela is the 32nd-largest country in the world and South America’s sixth-largest country, covering 916,445sq km (353,841sq miles). Venezuela is roughly the same size as Nigeria or Pakistan and about 1.5 times the size of the US state of Texas.

And what about the country’s political leadership?

29 Nov 2025 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)
Houthi

Venezuela denounces US ‘extravagant, illegal, and unjustified aggression’

Venezuela has condemned President Trump’s social media post declaring the country’s airspace “closed in its entirety”.

“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically repudiates the public message posted today on social media by the President of the United States, in which he pretends to extra-territorially apply the illegitimate jurisdiction of the US in Venezuela,” its embassy in Antigua and Barbuda said.

“Venezuela denounces and condemns the colonialist threat that seeks to affect the sovereignty of its airspace, constituting a new, extravagant, illegal, and unjustified aggression against the people of Venezuela.”

The post on X was the first comment by the government since Trump made the airspace declaration on Truth Social.

 

29 Nov 2025 - 20:00
 (20:00 GMT)

How much support does President Maduro actually have?

It remains unclear how much genuine public support Nicolas Maduro commands, despite being declared the winner in Venezuela’s latest election.

The vote handed Maduro another term and delivered sweeping gains for his ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), according to official results. But analysts say the numbers do not necessarily reflect broad backing.

The National Electoral Council said PSUV and its allies won more than 80 percent of the vote with turnout at about 42 percent. The opposition rejected that result saying the process was neither free nor fair.

Key figures were barred from running – including Edmundo Gonzalez, whom the US and several other countries recognise as the winner of the July 2024 presidential election. “We witnessed an event that attempted to disguise itself as an election, but failed to deceive the country or the world,” Gonzalez said at the time.

Low turnout and the exclusion of major opposition parties have made it difficult to gauge Maduro’s real domestic support, especially as tensions with Washington continue to rise.

A woman walks past a drawing of Super Bigote, alluding to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Maracaibo, Venezuela [Henry Chirinos/EPA]
29 Nov 2025 - 19:45
 (19:45 GMT)

WATCH: Why isn’t US media busting the ‘nacro-state’ myth?

The United States’s deadly “counter-narcotics mission” off Venezuela’s coast hinges on an unproven drug-smuggling narrative – a familiar pretext for regime change, and one the mainstream media have been quick to echo.

Meanwhile, Venezuelans face escalating repression at home. Watch below:

29 Nov 2025 - 19:30
 (19:30 GMT)
Explainer

What is the ‘Cartel de los Soles’?

According to the think tank InsightCrime, the name Cartel de los Soles, or “Cartel of the Suns”, emerged in the 1990s when Venezuelan generals and senior officers were investigated for drug trafficking and related crimes.

As corruption later expanded nationwide – first under the late President Hugo Chavez and then Nicolas Maduro – the use of the term loosely expanded to include police and government officials, as well as activities such as illegal mining and fuel trafficking.

So the entity is not actually a cartel, as the Trump administration claims, but rather a common reference in Venezuela to military officers and officials involved in corruption and other illegal activities.

The “suns” in the name refer to the epaulettes affixed on the uniforms of high-ranking military officers.

On November 16, the US Department of State declared the Cartel de los Soles would be added to the “foreign terrorist organization” list. The US alleges the “cartel” is overseen by Maduro himself – a claim the Venezuelan president denies.

The US State Department alleges the Cartel de los Soles, along with the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua criminal gang, is responsible for extensive drug-trafficking operations in the United States and Europe.

Washington’s designation offers possible legal cover to justify a military intervention.

29 Nov 2025 - 19:15
 (19:15 GMT)

US aircraft patrols ratchet up over Venezuela: Report

US warplanes are “constantly” patrolling the international airspace near Venezuela during “counternarcotics operations”, a news report says.

The Washington Post quoted an unnamed US official making the comments as President Trump intensified his threat against Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro by saying the country’s airspace “should be considered closed in its entirety”.

Trump provided no more details leaving observers wondering exactly what he intends to do. Analysts say the move could signal the launch of US air strikes on targets in Venezuela.

Others, however, suggest it could be Trump’s way of forcing concessions from Maduro in negotiations to prevent an attack on the oil-rich South American country.

The world’s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford has been deployed to the Caribbean [File: Jackson Adkins/ US Department of Defense via AFP]
29 Nov 2025 - 19:00
 (19:00 GMT)

US military activity imminent after Trump airspace declaration: Republican strategist

Adolfo Franco, a lawyer and Republican strategist, predicts that a US military intervention is likely to come soon against Venezuela.

“The US has declared no-fly zones in the past … What that means is that military activity is imminent, and you enter that airspace at your own risk. So, therefore, it has a deterrent effect, a de facto practical effect of closing the airspace for commercial travel because the risks are just too high,” Franco told Al Jazeera.

“It’s unclear what Trump will do, although I believe something will come from this. It’s just too much has happened,” Franco said.

“The Venezuelan regime is a dictatorship. We don’t recognise it as legitimate. Most Western countries do not. We believe the elections were fraudulent, and we believe most Venezuelans are opposed to that regime,” he added.

“Therefore, any kind of military action by the United States will probably cause some chaos and unrest and lead … to the desired change from within.”

29 Nov 2025 - 18:45
 (18:45 GMT)
Opinion

US warships off Venezuela aren’t there to fight drugs

By Guillaume Long

Ten thousand soldiers on board 10 US warships, including a nuclear submarine, several destroyers, and a missile cruiser patrol the southern Caribbean in what is the largest US military buildup in the region in decades.

The official narrative is a fabrication. The existence of a Venezuelan government-run “Cartel de los Soles”, let alone its control of the transnational cocaine trade from Venezuela, has been largely debunked.

Tellingly, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Drug Threat Assessment of 2024 does not even mention Venezuela. So what is US policy really about? And where might this dramatic escalation lead?

Read more here.

29 Nov 2025 - 18:30
 (18:30 GMT)

Trump’s pardon of ex-Honduras leader raises questions on Venezuela rationale

Questions continue to be raised about the real motivations of the United States as it cites “narco-trafficking” for its military threats against Venezuela with some observers noting it could be more about regime change than stopping the flow of drugs.

One example of that is President Donald Trump saying on Friday he will pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

In March last year, Hernandez was convicted in a US court of conspiring to import cocaine into the US and sentenced him to 45 years in prison.

Trump has sought to apply pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, ordering a series of strikes against boats suspected of carrying drugs, and building up the US military presence in the Caribbean with warships – including its most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford.

The US has accused Maduro of leading a major drug cartel that is bringing in drugs into the country, an allegation Venezuela’s government denies.

Former President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez was extradited to the US for allegedly aiding the smuggling of hundreds of tons of cocaine there [File: Jorge Cabrera/Getty Images]