The Dash-8 bombardier plane is reported to have taken off at the Hato airbase in the nearby Caribbean island of Curacao before circulating in Venezuelan airspace just off Los Monjes islands.
“Forty-eight hours ago, an intelligence plane of the United States coastguard made an incursion into our region of flight information,” stated Lopez.
“It made a surveillance sweep, it circulated south of Los Monjes in the gulf of Venezuela. At 12.35 it carried out circular search flight manoeuvres, and continued South… leaving our region of detection and our contact radar,” he continued.
The jets can be equipped with foliage and ground penetrating radar, digital mapping and high resolution infrared imaging. They are mainly used for surveillance, intelligence collection and the detection of threats.
“This jet was equipped with a multi-use radar for maritime surveillance, a receptor and transmission system with a signal processor and an electro-optic thermal energy detector for the creation of images,” said Lopez.
In other comments, the minister also confirmed that another US intelligence plane, model RC-135, had come “unusually” close to Venezuelan airspace after departing from Nebraska.
According to the military chief, the Venezuelan armed forces will be particularly “alert” during the upcoming parliamentary elections on December 6th, when he expects increased US aircraft presence near to Venezuela.
“Without wanting to cause alarm, the aircraft carrier which left California a few days ago and which has navigated the waters of the Panama Pacific headed towards the south, coincidentally that aircraft carrier, which is accompanied by a combat fleet, will be very near to Venezuelan coasts on the day of the parliamentary elections,” stated Lopez.
The report fuelled rumours that the US was planning an aggression against Venezuela from the Dutch Antilles.
Friday’s intrusion was publicly condemned by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this weekend, who confirmed that his government will lodge an official complaint over the incident with international organisations such as the United Nations and the CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States).
He went on to describe the event as the latest in a string of “provocations” from the US, which is a longtime opponent of Venezuela’s leftwing government.
Earlier in 2015, the Barack Obama administration used a presidential decree to officially designate the country as an “unusual and extraordinary threat to US national security”.
“The entire country should be united around rejecting these unusual and extraordinary threats from the US,” retaliated Maduro.
The Venezuelan president is due to speak at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council this coming Thursday.
