Venezuela revokes airline licenses after US warning and talks about sovereignty

Venezuela revoked this Wednesday, the 26th, the operating licenses of six international airlines that had suspended flights to the country following a security alert issued by the United States.

The revocation of licenses is officially treated as a gesture of defending sovereignty in the face of what is considered external pressure.

The measure is presented by the government as a direct response to what it considers undue external interference in air operations under Venezuelan jurisdiction. The decision affects Iberia, TAP Portugal, Avianca, Latam Colombia, Turkish Airlines and Gol.

According to the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics, the body responsible for regulating the sector, the companies interrupted their operations based on a warning from the United States Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, which recommended caution in Venezuelan airspace.

For Caracas, the simultaneous suspension of flights based on this document deepens the diplomatic tension and constitutes a unilateral action that required an immediate reaction from the State.

The government claims that the United States’ warning has no effect on Venezuelan airspace, which is managed exclusively by the country’s authorities.

For Caracas, the companies’ decision to suspend flights based on a foreign recommendation creates a situation of interference in an area under the exclusive responsibility of Venezuela, which justified the reaction announced this Wednesday.

In the official statement, INAC stated that the companies “joined the actions of state terrorism promoted by the United States government” by “unilaterally suspending their aerocommercial operations since then and since the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”.

The body also declared that the companies’ decision was based on a warning issued by an authority “without competence” over Venezuelan airspace.

The revocation was adopted after the forty-eight hour deadline given to companies to resume flights. When there was no response, the government announced that the permissions were permanently cancelled.

The Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, stated that the decision is sovereign and that “the government decides who flies and who does not”. In his weekly program on state television, he said that, if the companies did not resume flights within the specified period, “don’t reopen them”, and added that “you keep your planes and we keep our dignity”.

The FAA warning had been released the previous week and recommended that pilots and operators consider a potentially dangerous situation in the region. The agency cited worsening security conditions and increased military activity in Venezuela and nearby areas.

Caracas disputed the content and said that the United States has been deploying military forces to the Caribbean for months, which it called a threat designed to increase diplomatic tension.

The measure reduces Venezuela’s international connectivity and affects countries with large Venezuelan communities, including Brazil, Colombia and Spain. It also temporarily interrupts direct routes between Caracas and destinations such as São Paulo, Bogotá, Lisbon and Madrid.

There is no forecast for the resumption of negotiations between Caracas and the affected companies, nor is there any indication that the licenses can be reestablished in the short term.

To date, the Venezuelan government maintains the position that the decision is a sovereign response to the unilateral suspension of flights and what it classifies as external pressure linked to the alert issued by the United States.