CARACAS, Venezuela – An official Venezuelan delegation, including the country’s transport minister, protested outside the Argentine embassy in Caracas on Thursday against the grounding of a plane and its crew in Buenos Aires since June.
A Boeing 747 cargo plane owned by Venezuelan company Emtrasure has been held in Argentina since it arrived on June 8 with a shipment of auto parts from Mexico after a failed attempt to enter Uruguay.
Minister Ramon Velasquez and pro-government lawmakers visited the embassy on Thursday to protest, as a few dozen employees of state airline Convisa gathered outside shouting slogans: “Back the plane and crew!”
Conviasa, which controls Emtrasur, is the target of US sanctions.
Velasquez’s delegation handed over a document to Ambassador Oscar Laborde.
“We gave some communication to the ambassador so that the counterparts in Argentina could sit down and talk about the situation, finding the best option and the best solution to this problem,” Velasquez later said.
In this June 6, 2022 photo, a Boeing 747-300 registered under the number YV3531 of the Venezuelan Amtrasure cargo airline is seen at the international airport in Córdoba, Argentina, before taking off for Buenos Aires. (Sebastian Borcero/AFP)
“We hope that the truth will prevail, that the Argentine justice system will respond, that it does not take this illegality-stricken situation to new levels,” he said.
‘Spying and terrorism’
Boeing first entered Argentina on June 6 with a load of auto parts from Mexico.
Unable to refuel in Buenos Aires due to restrictions, the aircraft left for Montevideo on 8 June. But the Uruguayan authorities denied access to it, and it flew back to Argentina.
A judge ordered the plane’s detention in light of an investigation into the crew of 14 Venezuelans and five Iranians.
Last week, a judge gave the green light to 12 crew members to leave Argentina – minus four Iranians and three Venezuelans. An appeal is now being made against that decision.
Velasquez said the crew members were being investigated for “espionage and terrorism”.
“He has not yet been called to testify, his right of defense is being violated,” he alleged.
Police officers seize a box of documents during a judicial raid at the Plaza Central Hotel, where the crew of a Venezuelan-owned Boeing 747 cargo plane is stationed in Buenos Aires, Argentina June 14, 2022. (AP Photo / Gustavo Garello)
The Paraguayan Intelligence Service has linked one of the Iranian crew members to the Quds Force, a group of Iranian Revolutionary Guards classified by the United States as a terrorist organization.
But Velasquez said the intelligence report was “biased”.
The United States has asked Argentina to seize the plane, claiming it broke laws when Iran sold it to Venezuela – both countries under US sanctions.
Last week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro opposed the US request, which he called an attempt to “steal” the plane, and asked for support from Argentina.
The United States’ entry into the fray has also led to street demonstrations in Venezuela.
On Wednesday, Venezuelan lawmaker Pedro Carreo urged Argentine President Alberto Fernández to “show if he is a puppet of an empire, if he is a puppet of imperialism or if he actually rules that country.”
Argentina’s presidential spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti said at her weekly briefing on Thursday that the explosion “does not represent a diplomatic incident.”