Venezuela says US plane violated airspace

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela says a U.S. military plane violated its airspace last week during a summit of Non-Aligned Movement of nations.

Venezuelan Minister of Defence Vladimir Padrino said Tuesday that a U.S. plane entered the South American country’s airspace on Sept. 16 to spy on the meeting of the 120-nation group.

He said the plane came 130 nautical miles (240 kilometres) from the island of Margarita, where the summit was being held. International maritime law grants nations an exclusive economic zone for 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from their coasts.

Padrino identified the plane as a Dash-8, a Canadian-made model sometimes used for surveillance.

Venezuela accuses the U.S. of violating its airspace 32 times this year.

The U.S. Embassy in Caracas declined to comment Tuesday.