CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government said Thursday that U.S. military counter-drug flights from nearby Dutch islands are violating its airspace in preparation for an attack. A U.S. official denied the allegation.
A Venezuelan Foreign Ministry statement listed no examples of such violations, but it accused the United States of using “the colonial territories of Aruba and Curacao in preparation for a military aggression against Venezuela.”
Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, has repeatedly complained about Dutch permission for the U.S. to use the islands — Aruba is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) off his coastline — for flights meant to monitor drug planes from South America.
Chavez has repeatedly accused the U.S. of plotting to invade Venezuela or overthrow him since 2002, when a failed coup briefly removed him from power. U.S. officials have denied any such plans and say they did not back the coup.
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