Het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken in Venezuela roept Nederland op de Verenigde Staten niet langer toestemming te geven om vanaf de Nederlandse Antillen aanvallen op Venezuela voor te bereiden. De VS zou regelmatig het Venezolaanse luchtruim schenden vanaf bases op Aruba en Curaçao. Dat schrijft de krant El Universal: Venezuela pide a Holanda no dejarse utilizar por EEUU para agresión militar.

The US denies violation of Venezuelan airspace.
The US government on thursday rejected Venezuela’s accusations that its aircraft violated Venezuelan airspace with military planes based in the Netherlands Antilles. In Miami, the US Southern Command rejected the Venezuelan allegations and said their troops in the Netherlands Antilles are performing anti-narcotics operations only.
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“All of our counter-narcotics operations are conducted according to international law and treaties we have signed,” said Stephen Lucas, a spokesperson for the US Southern Command in Miami.

“If we enter foreign airspace, we do it only with the consent and approval of the government that controls such airspace,” he said.

He added that US anti-drug flights do not operate more in Venezuelan airspace because President Hugo Chávez banned them.

“It is regrettable that the Venezuelan government has decided to reduce its cooperation in the fight against drugs, but it is true,” he said. “The threat posed by illicit transnational drug trafficking affects all nations of the region.”

Lucas said that the last time US planes accidentally entered Venezuelan airspace was in May, when a US Navy aircraft was on a counternarcotics mission, but that it “was an anomaly, it is not our usual way of acting.”

He stressed that flights departing from the Netherlands Antilles serve anti-narcotics purposes only.

“The only reason for our presence on the islands of Curacao and Aruba is the fight against drugs and has nothing to do with political situations or other in Venezuela,” he said.

“The only ones who have to fear our operations in Curacao and Aruba are drug traffickers,” he stated.

When claiming that US aircraft violated the Venezuelan airspace, the Chávez government would not mention any date or details.

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