Venezuela Denounces U.S.
Plane Violation of
Airspace
Venezuelan government
denounced on Monday that
a U.S. Navy warplane on
counter-narcotics
missions crossed into
Venezuelan airspace
Saturday night,
Venezuelan Foreign
Minister Nicolas Maduro
said on Monday.
Maduro said the
government has demanded
that the U.S. ambassador
to Venezuela explain the
violation of its
airspace by a U.S.
military plane.
Maduro said that he will
meet Tuesday morning
with U.S. ambassador of
Venezuela Patrick Duddy
in Miraflores Palace to
receive the explanation.
Maduro and Defense
Minister Gustavo Rangel
Briceno presented the
denouncement in a press
conference.
Rangel said that radars
of Miquetia's
international airport
detected Saturday at
8:40 p.m. local time
(0010 GMT) a U.S.
military plane, S-3
Viking aircraft, over
the Venezuelan-owned
Caribbean island of
Orchilan, northeast of
Venezuela.
"We ordered the airplane
to identify itself,"
Rangel said. "We have
recorded proof of the
conversation between
ground control in
Venezuela and the
aircraft pilot."
Maduro and Rangel said
that the incident is
part of the campaign of
"provocations" that
supposedly Washington
and Colombian are
developing to
"destabilize" Venezuela
and the whole region.
U.S. pilot during the
recorded conversation
with the control tower
said "he wasn't aware of
being in Venezuelan
airspace", which Rangel
doubts.
"We believe this was a
conscious action made by
the U.S. Armed Force, it
is one shackle more to
the chain of
provocations" that
Washington supposedly is
doing against Venezuela,
Rangel said.
The S-3 aircraft,
originally used for
anti-submarine warfare
and maritime
surveillance, are now
used largely for
counter-narcotics
activities.
Venezuelan denouncement
was made at a moment
when the tension between
Colombia and Venezuela
has reemerged after the
Interpol's report that
implicates Venezuela
with the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of
Colombia.
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