Heine on the U.S. Airspace Ban in Venezuela and Where it May Lead
Ambassador Jorge Heine was interviewed by Marianne Dimain for CBC/Radio-Canada on November 29, 2025, to speak on the persisting tensions between the United States and Venezuela. This conversation occurred shortly after an announcement from President Trump, declaring the airspace near Venezuela is closed for all travel. Tensions have been rising as the US have ramped up both Naval and Military presence in the Caribbean, the USS Gerald R. Ford being the most notable as it is the largest aircraft carrier and warship in the world. The US has also engaged in strikes against 21 Venezuelan boats which have led to about 80 deaths so far. The Trump administration has claimed this presence is in response to Venezuela smuggling fentanyl into the US, however analysts such as Heine suspect that Trump’s mission is to overtake the Maduro regime.
In response to the President’s announcement regarding Venezuelan airspace, Heine disclosed that Trump has no authority to ban others traveling to or around another country, and that the military presence and attacks are illegal. Heine also debunked the administration’s claims these actions are a response to drug smuggling,
Fentanyl is what is happening to Venezuela as the weapons of mass destruction were to justify the Iraq invasion. It’s a hoax. Attacking Venezuela on the basis of fentanyl smuggling is the equivalent of attacking Mexico for Pearl Harbor. These two things are totally unrelated. No boat has ever been detained in the Caribbean with fentanyl on it.
He went on to say that instead the Trump administration is most likely motivated to acquire Venezuela’s oil reserves, as they have the largest in the world. Additionally, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been bent on a regime change in Venezuela for a long time, even so far back as his time as Senator to Florida, where his former constituency consisted of people from Venezuela and other Latin American countries. However, toppling the Maduro regime is no easy task, as Heine notes its size and that it shares borders with highly armed countries, particularly Colombia. He suspects that the Maduro regime will hold on to power, regardless of missile and drones strikes, predicting that tensions will to continue or fizzle out without a reaching a final peak, “The one possibility is for the missile attacks to occur, the Trump administration calls it a win, and have things leave at that.”
The full interview can be listened to here.
A former research professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Jorge Heine is a diplomat, international relations scholar, and lawyer. He has served as an ambassador of Chile to China, India, and South Africa. Heine has written over fifteen books, including The Non-Aligned World: Striking Out in an Era of Great Power Competition (2025), which provides insights on how the Global South can navigate the changing diplomatic landscape amid the U.S.-China rivalry.