President Donald Trump, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio monitor U.S. military operations in Venezuela, from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Jan. 3, 2026. Molly Riley/The White House via Getty Images
On Jan. 29, President Donald Trump announced that he had instructed the transportation secretary to reopen Venezuela’s airspace to commercial flights.
Trump ordered Venezuela’s airspace “closed in its entirety” on Nov. 29, 2025, as he ramped up pressure against then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Now, almost a month after Trump ordered U.S. forces to capture Maduro to face prosecution in the United States for narcotics trafficking, the U.S. president is relaxing airspace restrictions.
