Donald Trump has ordered the immediate reopening of commercial airspace over Venezuela, weeks after US military forces toppled the dictator Nicolás Maduro. “We’re going to be opening up all commercial airspace over Venezuela,” Trump told the gathering on Thursday. In November, as Trump was ramping up pressure on Maduro, he declared that the airspace “above and surrounding” Venezuela should be considered as “closed in its entirety”. Trump revealed that major US oil companies were already on the ground in Venezuela conducting site assessments for potential operations. “We have the major oil companies going to Venezuela now, scouting it out and picking their locations, and they’ll be bringing back tremendous wealth for Venezuela and for the United States,” he said.

Source: The Guardian January 29, 2026 19:52 UTC