US agency recommends caution for flights in Latin America

The agency’s statement recommends caution for air traffic over waters in the Flight Information Regions of Mexico, Central America, Panama, Bogotá, Guayaquil (in Ecuador), in the entire Oceanic Flight Information Regions of Mazatlán (city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa) and in part of the unassigned airspace (that is, where no air traffic control service is provided) of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

“The FAA advises U.S. civil aviation to exercise caution when flying in affected areas of airspace due to ongoing military activity and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) interference,” the note noted.

“There are reports of intermittent GNSS interference occurring in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Although aircraft generally recover the GNSS signal shortly after leaving the area of ​​known interference, the effects can persist throughout the flight and impact subsequent flights,” it continued.

“U.S. military aircraft may operate at overflight altitudes at or below cruising altitudes typically used by civil aviation, with little or no advance warning, and may conduct operations without transponders while U.S. military operations in the region continue,” the FAA added. The recommendation is valid for 60 days.

Since late August, the United States has sent military ships, including the world’s largest aircraft carrier, and fighter jets into the Caribbean Sea to bomb vessels that Washington says are linked to drug trafficking.

At least 35 attacks have been carried out on 36 vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific, in which 115 people have been killed.

This operation culminated in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro on the 3rd, to face charges related to narco-terrorism in American federal justice.

Since then, American President Donald Trump has intensified warnings that he intends to carry out operations against drug cartels within the territory of Mexico and Colombia, although in recent days he has lowered his tone, after conversations with the representatives of the two countries, Claudia Sheinbaum and Gustavo Petro, respectively.

This week, the Colombian president said he will meet Trump in the United States on February 3.