Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
Venezuela has accused the US military of violating its airspace along the South American country’s border with Colombia, pledging to “respond forcefully” to any maneuver it deems an act of aggression.
The Venezuelan Armed Forces said in a statement on Friday that a C-17 plane from the US air force had a day earlier flown over the Perija mountains in the western border State of Zulia for a short time.
According to Press TV, the statement said the US “type C-17 heavy military transport” crossed into Venezuela’s airspace for “a period of three minutes… making a journey of approximately 14 nautical miles.”
The statement described the violation as a “flagrant provocation” that took place during a joint military exercise between the US and Colombia near Venezuela’s Caribbean coastline.
“They are performing reconnaissance tasks on Venezuelan geophysical space, and thus we do not rule out other possible hostile actions that violate our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Venezuelan armed forces said.
The statement underlined that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro “has issued precise orders to remain alert and respond forcefully to any act of aggression.”
On July 16, the Colombian Air Force reported joint military training exercises with the United States “with the objective of improving interoperability with allied countries.”
Venezuela has no diplomatic relations with the United States and Colombia, a country with which it shares a porous border of more than 2,200 kilometres.
Caracas’s relations with Bogota and Washington have turned sour since the presidency of the late Hugo Chavez, but tensions escalated after the United States and Colombia recognized Venezuela’s opposition figure Juan Guaido as president, rejecting Maduro’s reelection in 2018 over accusations of vote fraud.
