Venezuela accuses US of another airspace violation 1 week after scrambling jet to shadow spy plane

Caracas has accused the US of another airspace violation, just a week after Washington, in a similar incident, blamed Venezuela for ‘unprofessionally’ approaching and ‘aggressively’ shadowing its spy plane over the Caribbean.

A Lockheed EP-3 surveillance aircraft violated Venezuelan airspace near the coastal city of Maiquetía at around 10:58am local time Saturday, and circled the area for more than three hours, Operational Strategic Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (CEOFANB) said in a tweet, providing a diagram of the flight. The country’s air traffic control attempted to communicate with the intruder, but received no “effective response.”

Just last week, a similar incident resulted in the US crying foul over the “unsafe” approach of an “aggressive” Venezuelan Su-30 fighter – and the media blamed Russia for its “irresponsible” support for Caracas. It is unclear if Venezuela scrambled any of its jets this time, and the US has yet to issue a comment over the incident.

The US maintains that all its aircraft operate strictly in international airspace, while Venezuela insists that American jets have violated its skies on at least 78 occasions this year alone. The Venezuelan Army denounced the latest incursion as a “frank offense” in breach of all international treaties.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!