Venezuela resumes US deportation flights after a brief suspension, with over 75 flights repatriating nearly 14,000 people under President Maduro’s authorisation.
CARACAS: Venezuela has reauthorised flights carrying migrants deported by the United States, its transportation ministry announced.
The move comes days after Caracas suspended the flights following a demand from US President Donald Trump that Venezuelan airspace be considered “closed”.
The aviation authority “has received a request from the US government to resume flights repatriating Venezuelan migrants from that country to Venezuela,” a ministry statement said.
It added that the resumption was authorised “on the instructions of President Nicolas Maduro”.
A new flight was authorised to land in Venezuela on Wednesday.
The deportation flights are a key part of Trump’s hardline anti-immigration policies.
They had continued despite a months-long US campaign targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats off Venezuela’s coast.
Washington says the boats were carrying drugs, but international experts warn the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people, are likely illegal under international law.
Trump has ramped up pressure on Venezuela, accusing Maduro’s government of being a drug cartel.
Maduro has accused Washington of using drug trafficking as a pretext for “imposing regime change” in Caracas.
He also rejected what he called a “slave’s peace” for the region amid fears of further US military action.
To date, 75 flights have been carried out to repatriate 13,956 people, Caracas said on Saturday.
