Airlines including Iberia and TAP had halted flights to Venezuela after warning of ‘increased military activity’ in the region.
But on Thursday, foreign officials and airline representatives called that decision a “disproportionate” response.
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A day earlier, Venezuela’s civil aviation authority had announced it had revoked the permits of air travel companies, including Spain’s Iberia, Portugal’s TAP, Colombia’s Avianca, Brazil’s GOL, Turkish Airlines and LATAM, which are headquartered in Chile and Brazil.
It accused the airlines of engaging in “acts of state terrorism promoted by the United States.”
The Venezuelan government has been under tension in recent months amid speculation of a possible US military attack.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last week warned airlines about a “potentially hazardous situation” due to the “deteriorating security situation and increasing military activity” in Venezuelan airspace. This, in turn, prompted some airlines to cancel flights.
But on Thursday officials such as Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel criticized Venezuela’s response to the cancellation.
Rangel said his country’s embassy would contact the Venezuelan government and stress that the flights were only temporarily halted due to security concerns.
“We have to make the Venezuelan authorities aware through our embassy that this measure is disproportionate, we have no intention of canceling our routes to Venezuela, and we only did so for security reasons,” he said.
Tension between the US and Venezuela is at its peak since the return of US President Donald Trump to the White House for a second term.
The Trump administration has overseen a heavy deployment of military forces to the Caribbean region, based on combating illegal drug trafficking.
But Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has condemned the US military’s activities as a precursor to attacks aimed at destabilizing his government and has responded with military preparations of his own.
The US government has long opposed Maduro for his record of human rights abuses, recently recognizing the Venezuelan opposition as the rightful winner of the 2024 presidential election, despite Maduro’s claims.
Since September, the US has carried out at least 21 deadly air strikes on boats and other sea vessels that it has accused of transporting drugs. An estimated 83 people have died.
The Trump administration has claimed, without evidence, that some of those killed were linked to criminal groups in Venezuela. International rights officials and legal scholars consider those attacks to be extrajudicial killings, in violation of international law.
After the US warned airlines about security threats over Venezuela last week, flights were abruptly canceled amid fears of military action.
Venezuelan authorities have given airlines 48 hours to resume flights to the country or face suspension of their operating rights, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Monday.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said in response to the cancellation, “Keep our planes, and we will maintain our dignity.”
News service AFP quoted an unnamed source at Iberia as saying the airline hoped to resume flights “as soon as possible, as soon as all safety conditions are met”.
But the source said Iberia cannot operate in high-risk areas.
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