The Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) of Venezuela reported this Thursday on the destruction of an aircraft from the island of Cozumel, in Mexico, after it entered the country's airspace without permission. The strategic operational commander of the military forces, Domingo Hernández Lárez, has assured that it was a white twin-engine Gulfstream device, with V-GRS license plates, and has described it as an “invading plane.”
The official has assured that the ship was detected by radars and entered the territory without permission and that a “defense plan” was activated to “destroy the hostile aircraft.” In a message on his social networks, he has shared photographs in which the plane can be seen in mid-flight and, later, other images that show the remains of the aircraft on fire in a forested area in the state of Zulia, in the west of the country.
1/4🔁 Our country is not a traveler! Venezuela has someone to defend it! #FANB immobilizes and renders unusable on the ground an invading plane from Cozumel – Mexico in the Catatumbo municipality of Zulia state.
It is a twin-engine Gulfstream aircraft, white, registration V3-GRS, pic.twitter.com/QAeRtRAJxn
— CEOFANB (@CEOFANBVE) January 25, 2024
During the last year, the Bolivarian Armed Forces have deployed their defense artillery to destroy aircraft allegedly linked to drug trafficking and illegal mining. In 2023, at least 38 destroyed aircraft were recorded. Last November, Venezuelan military forces also immobilized another “hostile” aircraft in Apure State.
The border defense activity intersects with an increase in political tensions in Venezuela. In recent weeks, however, the Venezuelan Government has denounced alleged conspiracies to assassinate Nicolás Maduro, which have led to arrests within the military forces and the demotion of around thirty officers of different ranks. In addition to the purge, the military sector has deployed a campaign and mobilization of troops and equipment on the borders in the face of alleged threats, as part of the so-called “Bolivarian Fury,” which the president ordered to activate at the same time that the persecution of opposition presidential candidate María Corina Machado. With messages that mention the “ultra-right” and “terrorist actions orchestrated from the northern empire,” the military authorities point out their enemy.
At the end of December, military tensions in Venezuela and neighboring countries increased as part of the crisis generated by the referendum called by Maduro in which the annexation of the territory of Essequibo, which has been disputed for more than a century with Guyana, was approved. . This incident involving ships from the Navy of the United Kingdom and Venezuela occurred after the mediation meeting held by Brazil in the Caribbean country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
This Thursday, the foreign ministers of Guyana, Hugh Todd, and Venezuela, Yván Gil, met for the first time since then at the Itamaraty Palace, with the presence of the Brazilian foreign minister, Mauro Vieira. Although Venezuela is in a state of alert, they committed to continuing the dialogue on the controversy surrounding the disputed territory in a “peaceful” and “threat-free” environment.
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