PALM BEACH, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump sharply escalated his threats against Venezuela on Saturday with an ominous warning that the country’s airspace should be considered “closed,” raising fears of imminent military action.

Caracas, which views a large US military buildup in the Caribbean as a pressure campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro, slammed Trump’s warning as a “colonialist threat.”

“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers,” Trump wrote on social media, “please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”

He did not elaborate, but after months of deadly US strikes on alleged drug-running boats, speculation is mounting that Washington may launch some sort of military operation on Venezuelan soil.

Trump’s warning comes days after US aviation regulators told airlines to use increased caution near Venezuela over the mounting tensions, prompting multiple major carriers to suspend flights.

Maduro’s government then issued a ban on the airlines for “joining the actions of state terrorism promoted by the United States government.”

A statement by the Venezuelan foreign ministry called the US president’s latest remarks a “new extravagant, illegal, and unjustified aggression against the people of Venezuela.”

It warned that the airspace disruptions would also mean a halt to repatriation flights of Venezuelan migrants from the US, a key Trump administration initiative.

Venezuela’s military on Saturday also conducted exercises along coastal areas, with video broadcast on state TV showing antiaircraft weapons and other artillery being maneuvered.

‘By land’

Though Trump has not publicly threatened to use force to remove Maduro, he said this week that efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land” would begin “very soon.”

Maduro’s re-election last year was widely rejected by the international community as fraudulent, while Washington also claims the leftist leader heads an alleged terrorist-designated drug cartel.

A steady buildup of US naval and air assets in the region has seen the world’s largest aircraft carrier move to the Caribbean, while American fighter jets and bombers have repeatedly flown off the Venezuelan coast in recent days.

US media reported that, despite the bellicose posturing, Trump and Maduro spoke last week.

The New York Times reported on Friday that Trump and Maduro had discussed a possible meeting, while The Wall Street Journal on Saturday said the conversation also included conditions of amnesty if Maduro were to step down.

Amid fears that Trump may launch a major operation in Venezuela, members of US Congress — both Democrats and the president’s own Republican Party — have expressed anger that he has not sought legislative approval.

“President Trump’s reckless actions towards Venezuela are pushing America closer and closer to another costly foreign war,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said Sunday on X.