The January 8 violation of Venezuelan airspace by a P-3 US military combat plane is another example of the danger US military presence in the region represents.
During a live television broadcast on the evening of January 8, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed that at approximately 12.55pm that day, a US P-3 combat plane took off from the air base in neighbouring Curacao and entered Venezuelan airspace during a 15-minute period.
Two Venezuelan F-16 planes intercepted the foreign military aircraft.
Chavez said that at 1.37pm Venezuelan time, the combat plane returned and flew for about 19 minutes inside Venezuelan territory.
The Pentagon has denied the violation of Venezuelan airspace, yet the Venezuelan military has video and photographic images of the US combat plane incursion.
Just days earlier, Venezuela's vice-president Ramon Carrizalez publicly denounced the intrusion of a US military plane also originating from the air base in Curacao, which is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, during 2009.
The governments of Washington and Holland denied the violation, yet Carrizalez revealed an audio recording between the Venezuelan airport control tower and the US pilot while inside Venezuelan airspace.
The pilot claimed ignorance as to the violation of Venezuelan territory. But the US military plane hadn't merely crossed the border, rather the pilot had flown over a strategic Venezuelan military base on La Orchila, a small island off Venezuela's northern coast, clearly well inside Venezuelan territory.
Since 2008, Washington has been increasing its military and intelligence presence on Curacao, where it has maintained a Forward Operating Location since 1999 for counter-narcotics operations.
By 2006, US operations from Curacao were not just US Air Force counter-narcotics missions. A clear presence of US Navy, Marines, Army, Special Forces and CIA had taken over the tiny Caribbean island.
At the same time, the US government was trying to brand Venezuela as a sponsor of terrorism, despite the lack of any evidence to back such a dangerous accusation.
In 2009, a military agreement between Colombia and Washington was sealed allowing the Pentagon to occupy and use seven military bases in Colombian territory and any civilian installation it chooses.
US Air Force documents said the agreement was necessary to combat "the constant threat of … anti-US governments in the region" and to engage in "intelligence, surveillance and reconnaisance missions". The documents also spoke of the need to improve the US armed forces' capacity to execute "expeditionary warfare" in the region.
[Abridged from Eva Golinger's blog.]