The Venezuelan government denounced Thursday, October 1 a "
deliberate act of provocation
" on the part of Washington, after an American warship entered the waters under its jurisdiction.
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The USS William P. Lawrence, a destroyer, entered "
the contiguous zone of Venezuela, at a distance of 16.1 nautical miles (about 30 km, note) from the Venezuelan coast
", affirmed the government of Socialist President Nicolas Maduro in a statement.
Caracas "
denounces the intimidation project
" of the Southern Command (Southcom), which directs the military operations of the United States in the Caribbean.
"
Deliberate act of provocation
"
According to the document, the crew told Venezuelan authorities that the ship was crossing in the area to conduct "
drug trafficking patrols
".
"
This is a deliberate act of provocation
" on the part of the United States, from which President Donald Trump is trying at all costs to oust his Venezuelan counterpart.
The contiguous zone, located beyond territorial waters, extends up to 24 nautical miles (approximately 44 km) from the coast of a given country.
According to the United Nations, each country has in its contiguous zone prerogatives in customs, fiscal or migration matters.
Read also: Venezuela: drop of 99% in oil revenues between 2014 and 2019, according to the president
Venezuela regularly denounces the presence of US military ships in its waters.
In July, he had thus evoked an "
act of provocation
" when the USS Pinckney, a destroyer, had entered "
in a stealth way
" in its contiguous zone.
The United States considers the presence in power of Nicolas Maduro illegitimate and calls for his overthrow.
Washington and nearly sixty other capitals recognize the opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela.
The successor of Hugo Chavez and several of his collaborators are under the indictments of the American justice for “
narco-terrorism
”.
Washington is offering a bounty of up to $ 15 million for any information that would stop it.
