Airlines including Iberia and TAP had paused flights to Venezuela after warnings about ‘heightened military activity’ in the area.Venezuela has pulled the operating rights for six foreign airlines that paused flights to the South American country amid rising tensions with the United States.But on Thursday, foreign officials and airline representatives blasted that decision as a “disproportionate” response.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listA day earlier, Venezuela’s civil aviation authority announced it had revoked permits for air travel companies, including Spain’s Iberia, Portugal’s TAP, Colombia’s Avianca, Brazil’s GOL, Turkish Airlines and LATAM, which has headquarters in Chile and Brazil.It accused the airlines of joining “actions of state terrorism promoted by the United States”.The Venezuelan government has been on edge in recent months, amid speculation of a possible US military attack.The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had warned airlines last week of “potentially hazardous situation” in Venezuelan airspace due to a “worsening security situation and heightened military activity”. That, in turn, prompted some airlines to cancel flights.But on Thursday, officials like Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel criticised Venezuela’s response to the cancellations.Rangel said his country’s embassy would reach out to the Venezuelan government and emphasise that flights had only been temporarily paused due to security concerns.“What we have to do is, through our embassy, make the Venezuelan authorities aware that this measure is disproportionate, that we have no intention of canceling our routes to Venezuela, and that we only did this for security reasons,” he said.Tensions between the US and Venezuela have been at a high point since the return of US President Donald Trump for a second term in the White …
