Hmmmm. What's this?
No, it's not a picture of Jay Jay the Jet Plane. You can probably figure that much out for yourself. It's no joke. But I'll give you a broad hint: This map, with radar tracings taken by the Venezuelan air force, figures prominently in the press conference below:
On Monday, the vice-president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Ramón Carrizález, presented proof to the citizens of Venezuela and the world that a military airplane from the United States, based in the Caribbean islands of Bonaire and Curaçao, violated Venezuelan airspace. This throws into disrepute the declarations of the ambassador of the Netherlands, who denied this grave instance of violation of international law.Accompanied by commander-in-chief General Carlos Mata Figueroa, the Strategic Operations Commander, and General of Division Alexis Colina, the Integral Air Defence Commander of the Republic, Vice-President Carrizález said that after the delivery of the note of protest by Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro to diplomatic representatives of the US and Holland, the Dutch ambassador denied the incursion.
"And for this reason, we will show the radar tracings and play the conversation between [the control tower at] Maiquetía Airport and Curaçao, in order to demonstrate before the country and the world that Venezuelan airspace was violated by a warplane which invaded twice from Curaçao, and which was directed by special aircraft belonging to the United States Air Force, which controls these military planes," Carrizález explained.
Carrizález added that on Monday, Venezuela denied authorization to another US military plane, code number 1771, which attempted to ingress in the direction of the state of Falcón. In a change from the previous case, this time the pilot requested, by radio, permission to enter Venezuelan airspace, an unusual procedure by international norms.
"It's the same code number as that of the plane that intruded on the 8th. This time, the pilot requested entry and was denied. This plane was heading northward. It was denied entry because those co-ordinates take time and justification [to file], and because no foreign aircraft can enter our airspace any other way.
"We have demonstrated fully the violations of our airspace by US warplanes from Curaçao," said the vice-president. He added that up to now, there are at least 14 such illegal incursions on record, but due to the lack of radar systems in the past, they could not be documented as in these recent months.
Carrizález said that in 2008, the worst violation came to light, when an airplane left Curaçao, crossed the Caribbean sea and flew over La Orchila, a restricted military zone, and then left Venezuelan airspace, in an apparent provocation.
The vice-president said that on January 8, Venezuelan radars detected, around 1:55 pm, an airplane entering Venezuelan airspace with the electronic transport code number 1771, flying from Bonaire, which twice entered Venezuelan airspace without authorization of any kind.
In the first incursion, the air-traffic controller at Maiquetía communicated with the Control Tower on Curaçao, to ask about this aircraft, but there was no clear or precise response. This recording was presented by the Vice-President to journalists at a press conference.
"The Curaçao operator responded in an ambiguous manner, but in one moment he said that he thought it could be a Coast Guard plane," Carrizález said. "Later, the plane returned to Curaçao." The vice-president added that he wondered how a plane could depart from an airport in those islands and the authorities of Curaçao not know anything about it.
As well, during this first incursion, there was an AWAC plane operating nearby, a radar-equipped craft used by the US to direct war missions, a fact which proves that the pilot penetrated Venezuelan airspace fully aware of what he was doing.
"That plane had enough electronics, and was directed by the AWAC. For this reason, there is no possibility that the pilot was in error," said Carrizález.
Showing the locations on a map of the radar tracings of the two illegal incursions by the US airplane, Division General Alexis Colina showed that in the first instance, the pilot was approximately four miles inside of Venezuelan airspace, and in the second, he flew parallel to the sea boundary, but well within Venezuelan territory, before returning to base in Curaçao upon being intercepted by two Venezuelan F-16s out of Barquisimeto, which forced him to retreat.
"We cannot think of an incursion of this type as an error when the pilot flew for 18 minutes inside of Venezuelan airspace," the general said.
The tracings of the F-16s can also be seen as they fly over the area, defending territorial sovereignty and preventing another incursion.
"With these elements, we can confirm and demonstrate that they are producing incursions into our airspace in order to provoke and test our reactions. At any moment, this could give rise to an aggression," said Vice-President Carrizález. "For this reason, we denounce, with proof in hand, the incursions of warplanes based on the island of Curaçao."
Translation mine.
You can also hear the recorded transmissions between the Curaçao and Maiquetía control towers here, in the second segment of Earle Herrera's current-events show, Kiosco Veraz. (Highly recommended viewing!) It's quite clear that the Venezuelan air force sought clarification from the US operator on Curaçao as to what a US plane was doing in Venezuelan airspace. The operator is vague, and probably intentionally so, just as VP Ramón Carrizález says in the video at the top of this entry.
One thing is abundantly clear: This was no coast-guard flight, and those lame excuses are only being made because the US military has been busted big-time. Given the general pattern of US intrusions and deliberate provocations (14 flights--that's an awful lot of "mistakes" for a country with so much state-of-the-art equipment, not to mention the best-detailed maps of the region!), it's clear that someone is trying to generate a new Gulf of Tonkin incident, in order to turn Venezuela into the next Vietnam. And given that the US and Holland both have major oil interests in the land, it's not hard to see why.
So, now we can see that both the US and the Dutch government have egg on their faces. All the snotty lamestream news outlets can hereby expunge the words "alleged" and "accusation", cut the half-witted denials, and stop making it look like Chavecito is crazy. He's not. But I really have to question the judgment of those who keep sending these planes to invade Venezuelan airspace. Do they want to feel the firepower of those dandy new Sukhois on their ass? It sure smells that way.
I just pity the pilots who are being put through these inane paces. In their boots, I'd protest.
