US bans Maduro overflight: Venezuela

Venezuela says Washington has refused to grant permission for the plane of President Nicolas Maduro to pass through US airspace, calling the move an aggression against the Bolivarian Republic.

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua told reporters in the capital Caracas on Thursday that the flight had been scheduled to pass over US territory above Puerto Rico on its way to China.

“We received the information from the US authorities that they have denied us the overflight through US airspace,” Jaua said. “We denounce it as yet more US aggression against the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela.”

Jaua added that the government in Washington had no right to refuse airspace to any presidential plane.

He also said that the US action would not force Maduro to cancel China visit.

“There’s no valid argument to deny this overflight,” he said. Caracas was studying other routes, he added, “but we reserve the right to take whatever measures we have to if the US government and its aviation authorities don’t rectify this new assault on Venezuela’s sovereignty.”

The US Embassy in Caracas did not immediately comment on the foreign minister’s statement.

Maduro is leaving on Friday for an official trip to China. Relations between Venezuela and the United States have been tense for a number of years, and the two countries have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010.