US Deportation Flight With 172 Migrants Lands In Caracas

A plane from the United States carrying 172 expelled undocumented Venezuelan migrants arrived Friday in Caracas, after the South American country reauthorised deportation flights to land despite President Donald Trump’s declaration that Venezuela’s airspace was “closed.”

The aircraft from Phoenix, Arizona, was the second flight to transport deportees to Venezuela from the US this week amid a massive American military buildup in Caribbean waters.

The Trump administration has been mounting a campaign targeting what it calls drug-trafficking operations with alleged ties to leftist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and has deployed military forces to Latin America, including the world’s largest aircraft carrier.

US forces in recent months have conducted more than 20 strikes in the Caribbean and the Pacific that have resulted in at least 87 deaths, but without providing evidence of their connection to drug trafficking.

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Maduro has asserted that the US deployment is part of a campaign to overthrow his government and seize his country’s big oil reserves.

At the end of November, the US Federal Aviation Administration notified carriers to “take extreme precautions” when flying over Venezuela, leading almost all international airlines to suspend their flights.

Trump, whose fight against undocumented immigration to the United States is one of his top priorities, soon after stated that Venezuelan airspace should be considered entirely closed.

Friday’s deportation flight carried five children, 26 women, and 141 men, Venezuelan authorities said.

According to official figures, that brought the number of Venezuelans repatriated on so-called “return to the homeland” flights to 18,260, including over 14,000 from the United States.

AFP