The aviation regulator said it issued notices to airlines, which will be in effect for 60 days.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) urged airlines on Jan. 16 to exercise caution when flying over Central America and the eastern Pacific due to military activities and potential navigation interference.
The FAA said it issued notices covering the airspace in Mexico, Central America, Panama, Bogotá, Guayaquil, and Mazatlán Oceanic Flight Regions, as well as parts of the eastern Pacific Ocean. The notices will remain effective for 60 days, according to its statement.
“Potential risks exist for aircraft at all altitudes, including during overflight and the arrival and departure phases of flight,” the aviation regulator said in its notices to airmen (NOTAMs).
The notices came just weeks after U.S. forces carried out airstrikes on Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, on Jan. 3 and captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their residence to face drug and arms-related charges in the United States.
Tensions have intensified in the region as the U.S. military stepped up counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Last month, a JetBlue flight departing from the Caribbean nation of Curacao, just off the coast of Venezuela, halted its ascent to avoid a collision with a U.S. Air Force refueling tanker.
FAA issued an advisory on Dec. 16, 2025, warning airlines of the security situation in Venezuela and urging pilots to exercise caution when operating in the Maiquetia flight information region, which covers Venezuelan airspace.
The advisory was set to remain in effect until Feb. 19, and marked the regulator’s second warning last year on security risks in Venezuelan airspace amid the U.S. military’s counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean.
Following Maduro’s ouster, President Donald Trump warned drug traffickers in Colombia and Mexico that they could face action by the U.S. military. Trump told Fox News on Jan. 8 that the U.S. military will begin ground operations targeting drug cartels in Mexico.
“We knocked out 97 percent of the drugs coming in by water, and we are going to start now hitting land with regard with the cartels,” Trump said. “The cartels are running Mexico. It’s very sad to watch and see what’s happened to that country.”
