US Spy Plane violated Venezuela’s airspace, President Hugo Chavez
December 21, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the United States of launching a spy plane from Colombia that violated his country’s airspace, and vowed to shoot down any future such aircraft.
The firebrand leftist leader said Sunday that a drone with “Yankee technology used in Colombia” flew over a Venezuelan military base a “few days ago,” taking photographs before disappearing. “Last night, I ordered these little planes to be shot down,” Chavez added on his weekly television and radio program. “We cannot permit this.”
His allegations came amid tense ties between neighbors Colombia and Venezuela, after Washington and Bogota struck a deal allowing US forces to run counternarcotics operations from Colombian bases. Venezuela suspended diplomatic relations with Colombia in July in response to the US-Colombian military base deal, denouncing it as a military threat to the sovereignty of Latin American countries and saying it paved the way for a possible attack against Venezuela.
Chavez warned Colombia against sending its armed forces across the border into Venezuela. “You’ll be sorry,” the former paratroop commander said. “We are not unarmed.”
The US-Colombian agreement, signed on October 30, involves seven Colombian bases and sparked consternation throughout the region, particularly irking Caracas.
Last week, Chavez said the US military was using Dutch islands off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast — Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao — as a staging area for a possible attack. The Netherlands has denied the claims. In November, Chavez called on his countrymen to “prepare for war” and Colombia’s defense minister announced Friday it would build a new military base near its border with Venezuela supplied with up to 1,000 troops, with two air battalions also activated at other border areas.
The two countries share a 2,000-kilometer border.
US Spy Plane violated Venezuela’s airspace, President Hugo Chavez was first posted on December 21, 2009 at 11:07 pm.
