Venezuela denounces that a US military plane violated its airspace

The government of Venezuela He denounced this Friday that an American cargo plane violated its airspace on its border with Colombia, an action which he described as “provocation”.

The incursion of the aircraft, “type C-17 heavy military transport” was recorded Thursday evening for “a duration of three minutes (…) making a journey of about 14 nautical miles over the part the westernmost of the Sierra from Perijá, State of Zulia, ”said a statement from the Ministry of Defense published on Friday.

“This blatant provocation It occurs as part of the combined military exercises developed by the Colombian Air Force and the Colombian Army in the departments of Antioquia and Cundinamarca respectively, in which there is also the presence of American fighter planes F -16 and RC135 for strategic exploration ”, text added. .

The Colombian Air Force announced on July 16 that it would conduct combined military training exercises with the United States “with the aim of improving interoperability with partner countries.”

Venezuela has repeatedly denounced that the United States and Colombia conspire together against the Maduro government, accusations never proven.

“We are aware that within the framework of the aforementioned exercises, reconnaissance tasks are carried out towards the Venezuelan geographical space, which is why we do not exclude other possible hostile actions which threaten our sovereignty and our territorial integrity”, denounced Venezuela.

President Nicolás Maduro “gave specific orders to remain vigilant and respond forcefully to any act of aggression,” noted the official statement.

Previous complaints

The Defense Ministry pointed out that so far this year, “North American planes have violated the flight information region (FIR) of Maiquetía (La Guaira, north) on 21 occasions, resulting in serious violation of international aviation standards.

According to Venezuelan authorities, planes passing through the flight information region are required to report to the airport control tower.

On the other hand, the Minister of Defense, Vladimir godfather he reiterated “before the international community and multilateral organizations that the presence of North American bases on Colombian territory” constitutes “a permanent threat and constitutes a mechanism of atrocious interference which significantly affects the stability of the Caribbean region. and Latin America.

“We are aware that, within the framework of the aforementioned exercises, reconnaissance tasks are carried out towards the Venezuelan geographical space, which is why we do not exclude other possible hostile actions against our sovereignty and our territorial integrity”, underlines the press release.

For this reason, he assured that President Nicolás Maduro “gave precise orders to remain vigilant and respond forcefully to any act of aggression”.

Venezuela does not maintain relations with the United States and Colombia, a country with which it shares a porous border of more than 2,200 kilometers.

Relations with these countries had been strained since the government of the late President Hugo Chávez, but intensified after Washington and Bogotá recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president, after considering that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was fraudulent.

Maduro constantly denounces the assassination or overthrow projects carried out by these two governments, his main international rivals.