US President Donald Trump said he was ordering the reopening of airspace over Venezuela after a call Thursday with the country’s acting president, part of an effort to resume ties following the raid to capture Nicolas Maduro.
“We’re going to be opening up all commercial airspace over Venezuela,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “American citizens will be — very shortly — able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe.”
Trump said he had instructed the Pentagon and Department of Transportation to make the change by the end of the day and said acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez had told him the government was making strides in improving the security situation in the country.
Soon after Trump’s comments, American Airlines Group Inc. said it plans to reinstate daily service to Venezuela, pending government approval and subject to security assessments.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency notice prohibiting civil flight operations of US aircraft in Venezuelan airspace earlier this month as the US military carried out its effort to arrest Maduro. Direct US-to-Venezuela flights have been suspended since 2019.
Rodríguez said earlier this week the US had agreed to unblock foreign-held sovereign assets, with the funds to be used for health care and energy purchases. Trump on Thursday said US oil companies were in Venezuela currently surveying potential sites to increase operations.
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