Venezuela Claims U.S. Spy Plane Violated its Airspace

Venezuela claimed Sunday that a U.S. Coast Guard intelligence plane violated its airspace, an allegation promptly denied by the American military branch.

The Dash 8 plane took off Friday from the Hato Rey base on the Caribbean island of Curacao and entered Venezuelan airspace close to the western Los Monjes archipelago on the Caribbean coast, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said in a televised address.

"The most serious part is that this aircraft violated air space, our air space," he said, adding that the plane flew in a "circular search pattern" by the Gulf of Venezuela.

The U.S. Coast Guard rejected the claim.

"As far as we know, there was no U.S. Coast Guard that was flying through Venezuelan airspace," spokesman Chief Warrant Officer Chad Saylor told AFP.

"If there is an aircraft, it's not ours."

He said there were no U.S. Coast Guard planes in the area.

Venezuela's claim "is unfounded as far as we are concerned," Saylor added.

Padrino claimed that no U.S. authorities "reported that presence" to the control tower at Simon Bolivar International Airport, "as required by international aviation law."