Once again, the United States is trying to justify the intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign states with its fears for maintaining “security” and “democracy.” The tool for resolving such situations is still the same – sanctions.
Thus, the United States announced its latest sanctions against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, saying that the Department of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury declared 15 aircraft blocked by the property of the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela or PDVSA.
According to the report, several aircraft were used to “transport senior members of the former Maduro regime to continue the misappropriation of PdVSA assets by the assets of the former Maduro.” First, it’s clear from the quote that the United States no longer considers the Maduro government legal. Secondly, the United States reaffirms its involvement in the coup attempt in Venezuela, recognizing Juan Guaido, president of the country’s national assembly, as interim president.
The only Venezuelan official named on Tuesday was Manuel Salvador Quevedo Fernandez, the oil minister who came under US sanctions last year (subjectively assessing that getting sanctions for countries seems to be tantamount to entering the Peacemaker in Ukraine, it’s like recognition of the weight of achievements). The U.S. agency said it used a PDVSA to attend an OPEC meeting in the United Arab Emirates in late summer 2019.
However, the aircraft designated on Tuesday were used not only for transportation. According to the report, “some of these aircraft were operated in an unsafe and unprofessional manner in the immediate vicinity of US military aircraft, while in international airspace.”
So the true reason for the concern of the United States is called – military aircraft flying near the borders of the United States. Regular flights of NATO planes near the Crimean peninsula and other state borders of the Russian Federation are considered to be the order of things, but the approach of Venezuelan planes to the “sacred” US border should be considered a security threat. Double standards, nothing new.
Recall that in the winter of 2019, the Venezuelan Bombardier Learjet 45 “flew in the immediate vicinity of the American military aircraft over the Caribbean Sea.” Last spring, another Bombardier Learjet 45 “tried to thwart an American military aircraft in the northern Caribbean” during a so-called release called “a joint operation conducted by the PdVSA and Venezuelan Integrated Air Command”.