By Jacki Thrapp
Airlines have cancelled hundreds of flights in the Caribbean after the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife during an overnight strike on Jan. 3.
Flight delays and cancellations began early Saturday morning due to Federal Aviation Administration airspace closures in the Caribbean.
Impacted flights included trips to Puerto Rico, the British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, and the U.S Virgin Islands.
More than 700 flights have been canceled within, into, or out of the United States as of noon ET, according to the flight tracking platform Flight Aware.
Nearly 300 of the canceled flights were set to fly in and out of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The flight tracking website reported over 2,500 cancellations as of noon on Saturday.
The United States launched its operation in Venezuela overnight, in a move that received mixed reactions from world leaders.
Maduro had been taken into U.S. custody and was on the U.S. warship Iwo Jima, heading to New York as of Saturday morning, according to President Donald Trump.
“They’ll be heading to New York. You know, they were indicted in New York,” Trump told Fox News.
“The helicopters took them out, and they went by helicopter in a nice flight. I’m sure they loved it.”
