Venezuela announced on Tuesday the closure of its airspace to aircraft coming from or going to Argentina, in retaliation for the seizure of a cargo plane then handed over to American authorities.
“Venezuela exercises its full sovereignty over its airspace and reaffirms that no plane coming from or going to Argentina will be able to fly over our territory, until our company is duly compensated for the damage caused
,” wrote the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yvan Gil, on the X network.
Earlier, the Argentine government condemned the measure.
“The Argentine Republic has initiated diplomatic actions against the government of Venezuela, a government led by the dictator Maduro, following its decision to prevent the use of the airspace of this country by any Argentine aircraft
,” the spokesperson said. -presidency spokesperson Manuel Adorni.
Increased tensions since the arrival of President Javier Milei
The Boeing 747 cargo plane of the Venezuelan company Emtrasur was grounded in June 2022 in Argentina after arriving from Mexico, with a load of automobile parts.
The aircraft was sold in October 2021 to Emtrasur, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan public airline Conviasa, by the Iranian Mahan Air, in violation of American sanctions, the American Department of Justice justified in early August 2022, relaying to the authorities Argentines a request for seizure from a court in the District of Columbia.
Caracas and Tehran protested U.S. attempts to seize the plane, but an Argentine judge in February ordered it handed over to the United States.
The 19 crew members were detained - although free - in Argentina and then gradually allowed to leave the country, as the investigation progressed.
Among them were four Iranians, including one suspected by Washington of being a former executive of the Revolutionary Guards and their Al-Quds unit, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States.
Relations between Venezuela and Argentina deteriorated with the coming to power in December of President Javier Milei, with whom President Nicolas Maduro frequently exchanges insults.