[News] US Combat Plane in Curaçao Violated Venezuelan Airspace Yesterday

[Anti-Imperialist News]

US Combat Plane Stationed at the Military Base in 
Curaçao Violated Venezuelan Airspace Yesterday

January 10th 2010, by Eva Golinger- Postcards from the Revolution

Caracas, January 9, 2009 - Yesterday’s violation 
of Venezuelan airspace by a P-3 US military 
combat plane is another example of the escalation 
in provocations against Venezuela and evidence of 
the danger US military presence in the region 
represents. During a live television broadcast on 
the evening of January 8, President Hugo Chávez 
revealed that at approximately 12:55pm earlier 
that day, a US P3 combat plane took off from the 
air base in neighboring Curaçao and entered 
Venezuelan airspace during a 15-minute period. 
Two Venezuelan F-16 planes intercepted the 
foreign military aircraft, prepared to escort it 
outside Venezuelan territory. “When the F-16 
planes attempted communication with the US 
aircraft, it immediately took off towards the 
north, but later it returned”, announced 
President Chávez. He said that at 1:37pm 
Venezuelan time, the combat plane returned and 
flew for about 19 minutes inside Venezuelan 
territory. “It was escorted out and pressured by 
our F-16s, we didn’t have to bring in the Sukhois”, added Chávez.

The Pentagon has denied violation of Venezuelan 
airspace, yet the Venezuelan military has video 
and photographic images of the US combat plane incursion yesterday.

Just days earlier, Venezuela’s Vice-President 
Ramón Carrizalez had publicly denounced the 
intromission of a US military plane also 
originating from the air base in Curaçao during 
2009. The governments of Washington and Holland 
denied the violation, yet Carrizalez revealed an 
audio recording between the Venezuelan airport 
control tower and the US pilot while inside 
Venezuelan airspace. The pilot stated clearly 
that he was flying a US Navy military plane 
stationed at the base in Curaçao. He claimed 
ignorance as to the violation of Venezuelan 
territory, stating he was “unaware” he had 
entered an unauthorized zone. But the US military 
plane hadn’t just merely crossed a border that 
some might argue is difficult to visualize, 
rather the pilot had flown over a strategic 
Venezuelan military base on La Orchila, a small 
island off Venezuela’s northern coast, clearly 
well inside Venezuelan territory. This was not an isolated incident.

Since 2008, Washington has been increasing its 
military and intelligence presence on the small 
Dutch island of Curaçao, where it maintains a 
Forward Operating Location (FOL) since 1999. The 
original contract between Holland and Washington 
stipulated use of Curaçao for counter-narcotics 
operations. But since September 11, 2001, 
Washington began using its military installations 
around the world to combat “terrorist threats” 
and threats against US interests, and in some 
cases, such as in Curaçao and Aruba, violating 
the terms of previous military agreements that 
only authorized counter-narcotics or humanitarian missions.

By 2006, US operations from Curaçao were not just 
US Air Force counter-narcotics missions, but a 
clear presence of US Navy, Marines, Army, Special 
Forces and CIA had taken over the tiny Caribbean 
island. Together, the US military and 
intelligence community components were conducting 
joint exercises and operations to combat a 
“potencial threat in the region”. At the same 
time, the Bush Administration was trying to brand 
Venezuela as a state sponsor of terrorism, 
despite the lack of any evidence to back such a dangerous accusation.

The arrival of US aircraft carriers, war ships, 
combat planes, Black Hawk helicopters, nuclear 
submarines, and thousands of troops to the waters 
of Curaçao to participate in “joint exercises” 
caused alarm in the region. The Commander of the 
U.S.S. Stout, one of the war ships that docked in 
Willemstad during Spring 2006, declared to the 
Curaçao press on April 11, 2006, “
we are the 
most powerful Naval force in the world and the 
United States will defend its friends in the 
region under all circumstances.” Commander Thomas 
K. Kiss also exclaimed that his powerful ship 
represented “
a formidable presence to defend US interests in the region.”

That was in 2006. In 2008, the stakes 
intensified. Washington formally attempted to 
place Venezuela on the terrorism list, though 
Congress didn’t approve the request because of 
oil dependence. But in July 2008, the US Naval 
Fourth Fleet was reactivated after almost 60 
years, to “demonstrate US power and force in the 
region”. In 2009, a military agreement between 
Colombia and Washington was sealed, allowing the 
Pentagon to occupy and use seven military bases 
in Colombian territory and any civilian 
installation necessary. US Air Force documents 
justifying the agreement and budget requests to 
improve Colombian military installations 
underlined the necessity to combat “
the constant 
threat of 
anti-US governments in the region” and 
to engage in Intelligence, Surveillance and 
Reconnaisance missions, as well as to improve the 
US armed forces’ capacity to execute “Expeditionary Warfare” in the region.

In December 2009, President Chávez denounced the 
detection of a US drone plane that had violated 
Venezuelan territory from Colombia.

A Department of State publication from 2006 
classified the Dutch islands of Aruba, Bonaire 
and Curaçao as the “The Third Frontier of the 
United States”, considering the Caribbean 
colonies part of the “geopolitical border of the 
United States”. In reaction to the growing US 
military presence on Curaçao, a local journalist 
commented, upon visiting one of the US war ships, 
“After leaving the war ship, we had the sensation 
that all of a sudden, we are now very important
”

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Source URL (retrieved on Jan 11 2010 - 12:38): 
<http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5061>http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5061 

License: Published under a Creative Commons 
license (by-nc-nd). See creativecommons.org for more information.




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