Venezuela’s government said on Tuesday that it had approved a request from the United States for a migrant repatriation flight days after President Trump declared Venezuelan airspace “closed in its entirety.”
The announcement underscores how the governments of the United States and Venezuela are still communicating amid heightened tensions over the Trump administration’s military pressure campaign targeting Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro. Venezuela’s government had suggested that such repatriation flights were effectively halted because of Mr. Trump’s declaration.
“The Aeronautic Authority of Venezuela has received a request from the government of the United States to restart migrant repatriation flights from that country to Venezuela,” Venezuela’s Transportation Ministry said in a statement.
Venezuela has regularly been accepting flights with repatriated migrants from the United States in recent months even as the U.S. military has been striking small boats in the Caribbean departing mainly from Venezuela. The Trump administration claimed the vessels were smuggling drugs, though it has provided no clear evidence to support its accusations. Since early September, at least 83 people have been killed in 21 strikes in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean.
Investigations are mounting into the legality of these strikes, placing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth under greater scrutiny. A broad range of experts has described the strikes as illegal under laws governing the military use of lethal force.
Lawmakers from both parties in the United States have suggested that American military officials might have committed a war crime during one such attack involving a follow-up strike that was ordered to kill two survivors.
Amid the debate in Washington over the strikes, Mr. Trump has mixed threats against Mr. Maduro with the possibility of a diplomatic solution. The two leaders spoke by phone last month and discussed a possible meeting.
During the crisis, the repatriation flights have emerged as a rare example of cooperation between the two governments. Since the Trump administration began its immigration crackdown this year, nearly 14,000 Venezuelans returned to Venezuela on such flights, Venezuela’s government said.
The latest repatriation flight is expected to depart from Phoenix and arrive in Venezuela on Wednesday or Thursday, Venezuelan authorities said.
The United States does not have the legal authority to close another country’s airspace, and Venezuela’s government had said such a declaration amounted to a “colonialist threat.”
Simon Romero is a Times correspondent covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. He is based in Mexico City.
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