For months, the president has intensified U.S. military presence in the region, ramping up pressure on Venezuela with strikes on alleged drug boats since early September. The military has carried out nearly two dozen known strikes on vessels they said were carrying drugs, killing at least 82 people.

President Trump posted on social media that Venezuela's airspace should be considered as "closed in its entirety."

Venezuela is entering one of its most repressive periods in years, rights monitors say, as President Nicolás Maduro faces mounting isolation and an expanding US military presence in the Caribbean.

President Donald Trump announced Saturday that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered "closed in its entirety."

In our news wrap Saturday, Trump declared Venezuela’s airspace to be considered closed despite not having the legal authority to do so, Russia carried out deadly drone and missile attacks overnight in Ukraine,

Nov 29 (Reuters) - Venezuela condemned U.S. President Trump's assertion that the airspace around Venezuela should be considered closed, a government statement said on Saturday. It called Trump's comments, made earlier, a "colonialist threat" against the country's sovereignty and incompatible with international law.

US President Donald Trump has said that the airspace around Venezuela should be considered closed. "To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY," Trump said in a social media post.

Venezuelan Foreign Ministry slams US president's 'colonialist threat' amid weeks of escalating rhetoric from Washington.

"We’ll be starting to stop them by land also," Trump said of Venezuelan drug traffickers. "The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon."

The situation around Venezuela has Americans asking to know more. Across party lines, big majorities say the administration needs to explain what the U.S. intends regarding any action, and that it has not done so clearly yet.