Venezuela Says US Military Jet Violated Airspace In Blatant Provocation

By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: July 24th, 2021 09:00PM UTC
Last Modified: July 24th, 2021 09:00PM UTC

VENEZUELA - Venezuela has accused the United States of violating its airspace in what they call a 'flagrant provocation' and stated that they would 'respond forcefully' to any maneuver it saw as aggressive behavior.

Venezuela reported that a US military "type C-17 heavy military transport" entered into its airspace on Thursday for "a period of three minutes... making a journey of approximately 14 nautical miles". According to Venezuela, the US has violated its airspace not once, but over 20 times so far this year.

The Colombian and U.S. military were both carrying out exercises together close to the Caribbean coastline of Venezuela at the time. On July 16th the Colombian Air Force stated they had the objective of improving interoperability with allied countries.

Venezuela put out a statement saying, "We are aware that as part of the aforementioned exercises, reconnaissance tasks are being carried out toward Venezuelan geographic space, which is why we do not rule out other possible hostile actions against our sovereignty and territorial integrity".

The statement also says that President Nicolas Maduro "has issued precise orders to remain alert and respond forcefully to any act of aggression".