Airspace in Venezuela Deemed Closed Says President Trump (Gunboat Diplomacy)
Kanako Mita, Michiyo Tanabe, and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
The government of Venezuela under President Nicolás Maduro remains firmly geared toward power concentration. The state apparatus – and every lever available to secure political dominance – is deployed with relentless consistency. However, the question remains: is any of this truly an issue for President Donald Trump?
Trump dramatically declared that Venezuelan airspace was closed, warning that “Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers” would face a blockade. This rhetoric – sweeping, theatrical, and deliberately ambiguous – shifts the discussion away from formal diplomacy and toward a constructed narrative of external threats supposedly emanating from Venezuela.
Unsurprisingly, Venezuela’s government “forcefully rejects” Trump’s assertion. Caracas denounced the declaration as a “colonial threat” aimed at undermining the nation’s “territorial integrity, aeronautical security, and full sovereignty.”
For the Maduro administration, Trump’s language is not merely provocative but emblematic of Washington’s long-standing pattern: applying punitive pressure under the guise of security and moral concern.
The Foreign Ministry of Venezuela countered that “such declarations constitute a hostile, unilateral and arbitrary act.”
AP News reports that “International airlines last week began to cancel flights to Venezuela after the Federal Aviation Administration told pilots to be cautious flying around the country because of heightened military activity.”
America is unmistakably seeking to intimidate Venezuela. The U.S. armed forces have flown strategic bombers near Venezuelan airspace, while the USS Gerald R. Ford — the most advanced aircraft carrier in the American arsenal — has been deployed to the region. Its arrival completes the largest concentration of U.S. firepower in this part of the Americas in generations. Under the banner of “Operation Southern Spear,” the buildup now includes nearly a dozen Navy vessels and around 12,000 sailors and Marines, projecting a level of military pressure far beyond routine deterrence.
Yet Venezuela is not unique — and it is worth noting that Trump recently signed vast contract deals with several Gulf powers where no democratic norms exist. In this sense, Venezuela mirrors Nicaragua and other states where ruling elites fear the unpredictability of genuine democratic competition. Accordingly, if democracy were truly the decisive benchmark, then Washington’s indulgence of Gulf monarchies – where political dissent is sharply curtailed – exposes a striking contradiction.
Thus, whether Maduro is reviled or defended, he is hardly an anomaly on the world stage. Likewise, singling out Venezuela as the supposed gateway for narcotics entering the United States – as framed by Trump’s aggressive posture – is a perplexing foreign-policy choice. After all, narcotics enter America through a vast range of countries, while the true epicenter of the crisis remains the nation’s own expansive domestic drug market.
No serious observer disputes that due-process violations occur in Venezuela, nor that the judiciary often rubber-stamps state power. A UN Human Rights Council fact-finding mission documented these abuses clearly. However, the critical question persists: how do such internal legal and political failings justify America’s military buildup targeting Venezuela, coupled with Trump’s dramatic declaration of closing Venezuelan airspace?
The leap from human-rights concerns to military escalation is not only disproportionate – it raises deeper questions about geopolitical motives dressed up as moral imperatives.
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) observes, “It is sincerely hoped that this brinkmanship does not slide into open conflict and that diplomacy prevails over theatrical displays of force. The era of Gunboat Diplomacy should be confined to the history books, not resurrected as a tool of modern statecraft. Military threats against a nation that does not warrant such extreme external intrusion only inflame tensions and undermine any genuine pursuit of stability. What is needed now is dialogue, restraint, and a return to sober diplomacy — not the echo of battleships and bomber flights.”
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi’s website and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK