Venezuela says migrant repatriation flight suspended, US says they will continue

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Venezuela's ⁠interior ministry ⁠said ‍in a statement late on Thursday that the United States has suspended a migrant ‍repatriation flight which had been set to arrive ​on Friday, amid months of high tensions between the ​two countries, though a U.S. administration official said flights will continue.

The U.S. is executing a large-scale military build-up in the southern Caribbean ​as President Donald Trump campaigns for the ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. This week ​the U.S. seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the country's coast.

"This Thursday, ‌we have received the decision of the government of the United States to suspend, unilaterally, ​the return of Venezuelan citizens ⁠who had been scheduled to return on December 12," the interior ministry said in ‌a statement late on Thursday night, saying the suspension interrupted a coordinated process and was contradictory to previous agreements.

The ‌ministry added it is confident the U.S. will "rectify" the situation "sooner rather than ‌later".

But a U.S. administration official contradicted the Venezuela statement, telling Reuters "There is no truth to this. Deportation flights to ‍Venezuela will continue."

Repatriation flights, which this year have returned more than 18,000 Venezuelans, ⁠mostly from the U.S., were briefly halted earlier this month after Trump said Venezuelan airspace should be considered closed. Venezuela later said it had received a U.S. request to resume them.

(Reporting by Reuters)

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