Published at: 28/05/2025 09:00 PM

(EL MUNDO, May 24, 1999)

• On Sunday, May 23, 1999, in his inaugural program, Commander Chávez disavowed the request for overflights of American ships through Venezuela, in a clear defense of the inviolability of our territorial sovereignty.
• During this first Aló Presidente, just 100 days after his administration began, Commander Chávez expressed a resounding NO! to the request of the United States to use our airspace for the overflight of its military aircraft.
• During the launch of the radio program Aló Presidente No. 1, President Chávez emphasized: “We cannot authorize any military aircraft to fly over our territory without our authorization and we are not going to authorize it.”
• One of the justifications given by the North American government was that “its pilots could be accompanied by Venezuelan and Colombian pilots, and that when passing through Venezuelan territory, Colombians would be placed in the back of the aircraft, from where they could not see anything and vice versa in Colombian territory. But North American drivers would of course see everything.”
• Thus, Chávez began to draw the dividing lines of mutual respect and political boundaries in the face of the great superpower. He left a record, before his people and history, of his unquestionable mission and unwavering duty to defend our sovereignty.
• This first Hello President was broadcast on Radio Nacional de Venezuela (RNV), with a duration of one hour and the direct attention of 11 telephone calls by the same president.
• Aló Presidente was born as a communication window that radiated inside and outside of Venezuela like a beacon of lights of the Bolivarian Revolution, led by its undisputed and greatest leader Hugo Chávez Frías, until January 29, 2012, with a total of 378 programs.

Mazo News Team