Maduro trusts that the agreement with the U.S. for the reception of migrants will be maintained.

Caracas.– Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro expressed his confidence this Thursday that “week after week” the agreement signed in January of this year with the Administration of his US counterpart, Donald Trump, to receive migrants, will be maintained, despite the growing tensions between Caracas and Washington. The president recalled that on Wednesday an airplane from the American airline Eastern Airlines landed in his country with 266 repatriated people from Phoenix, Arizona, in a context marked by the military deployment of the North American nation in the Caribbean and by a crisis of air connectivity in Venezuela. «Yesterday (Wednesday) the flight arrived, our countrymen have arrived, they are already on their way to their homes to the family embrace, and tomorrow (Friday) another flight arrives and so it will continue week after week», he expressed. The Chavista leader recalled that last January his government signed an agreement with the US government during a visit to Caracas by Richard Grenell, Trump’s special envoy, in order to guarantee, according to Maduro, a “safe return” of Venezuelans in the North American country. “That has been fulfilled. There was a mishap recently, I received the request directly, with a direct message, to maintain the plan with US aircraft, I approved it,” said the head of state, who pointed out that the Venezuelan National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC) “issued the permits.”

The air crisis in Venezuela

According to the Chavista government, the US authorities “had verbally suspended the execution of these flights” and on Monday “requested again” a resumption. However, there was no official communication from the U.S. about a suspension of these operations. On Saturday, Trump warned pilots and airlines to consider Venezuelan airspace and its surroundings “closed”. Venezuela’s air connections are limited by temporary flight cancellations following a U.S. warning to “exercise extreme caution” when flying over the oil-rich country and the southern Caribbean, considering that the area is experiencing “a potentially dangerous situation.” Faced with a wave of cancellations, Venezuela revoked the operating concessions of eight international airlines. This Wednesday, Maduro confirmed having recently spoken by phone with Trump, and although he did not give details of what was discussed, he assured that the contact was “cordial” and took place “in a tone of respect”, so he said he hoped that this would represent a step “towards a respectful dialogue” between both countries, without diplomatic relations since 2019.