US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned against flying over Venezuela, in a brief social media message that signaled the latest escalation against the Latin American country.

What did Trump say?

"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 post on his Truth Social platform.

The US president did not elaborate.

But his message follows a warning by the US aviation regulator to major airlines of a "potentially hazardous situation" when flying over Venezuela due to a "worsened security situation and heightened military activity in or around" the country.

How has Venezuela reacted to Trump's warning?

Venezuela condemned Trump's warning, calling it a "colonialist threat."

"Venezuela denounces and condemns the colonialist threat that seeks to affect the sovereignty of its airspace, constituting yet another extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Trump administration escalates against Maduro's Venezuela

Trump's warning comes as his administration ups its pressure on Venezuela's leftist leader Nicolas Maduro, launching a major military deployment in the Caribbean using the world's largest aircraft carrier.

Washington says the military activities are geared toward curbing drug trafficking. But Maduro insists the Trump administration is seeking regime change.

Since early September, US forces have struck over 20 Venezuelan vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean which Washington alleges were used for drug smuggling, without providing proof. Over 80 people were killed in the strikes.

On Thursday, Trump warned that operations to curb Venezuelan drug trafficking "by land" would begin "very soon." 

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko