By Christopher Toothaker for The Air Force Times:
CARACAS, Venezuela: An unmanned U.S. spy plane recently violated Venezuela’s airspace and the military has been ordered to shoot down any such aircraft if it happens again, President Hugo Chavez said Sunday.
Speaking during his weekly television and radio program, Chavez said the aircraft overflew a Venezuelan military base in the western state of Zulia after taking off from neighboring Colombia. He did not elaborate, but suggested the plane was being used for espionage.
“These are the Yankees. They are entering Venezuela,” he said.
“I’ve ordered them to be shot down,” Chavez said of the aircraft. “We cannot permit this.”
Chavez has accused Colombia of allowing the United States to use its military bases to prepare a possible attack against Venezuela.
Last week, the president accused the Netherlands of letting the U.S. military use Dutch islands off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast to prepare for a possible military offensive. The former paratroop commander said the U.S. military has sent intelligence agents, warships and spy planes to Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, which are self-governing Dutch islands.
Tensions between Venezuela and neighboring Colombia have been tense for months due to Chavez’s accusations of warmongering and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s allegations that Venezuela has allowed Colombian rebel leaders to seek refuge there.
Chavez denied on Sunday that his socialist government is protecting Marxist guerrillas and warned Colombia’s military against sending soldiers across the border.
“You’ll be sorry,” he said. “We are not unarmed.”
