Timeline of the hijacking and destruction of an EMTRASUR aircraft: From illegality to sovereign response

Published at: 12/03/2024 03:18 PM

This Tuesday, the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela decided to prohibit the use of its airspace for the overflight of aircraft heading to or coming from Argentina, as a reciprocal response to the hijacking and destruction of the aircraft belonging to the Empresa de Transporte Aerocargos del Sur (EMTRASUR), owned by the Venezuelan State.

The sovereign decision taken by the Bolivarian Government stems from a series of actions carried out by administrations of countries subservient to the United States (USA) that culminated in the destruction of a Venezuelan plane, as part of imperialism's policy of sanctions and blockade against the people of the South American nation.

Below is the chronology of the theft and delivery:

On June 6, 2022, the cargo aircraft, after its arrival in Argentina, tried to fly to Uruguay to load fuel, but the government of that country prevented it from landing and the Argentine justice system held it at Ezeiza Airport with its crew, consisting of fifteen Venezuelans and four Iranians, who were held for more than three months without evidence of crime.

The plane and its 19 crew members remained on Argentine soil from that moment on without justification, a fact that Venezuela reported to the international aeronautical community, due to the risk involved revoking the aircraft's overflight permit, which could cause tragedy, human loss and material damage.

On August 2, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice formally requested the Argentine authorities to seize the Venezuelan plane, for an alleged breach of the so-called sanctions imposed by the U.S. government on the Iranian company Mahan Air, which sold the aircraft to the Venezuelan State, and to CONVIASA, the parent company of EMTRASUR.

The court order came after the Federal Criminal and Correctional Court of Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, ordered the lifting of the ban on leaving the country for 12 of the 19 crew members.

In a statement published on its website, the Columbia district court issued a seizure order on July 19, 2022 to justify the seizure of the plane for alleged “violations of state export control laws related to the unauthorized transfer of the Mahan Air plane, an Iranian airline affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)”, described by Washington as a “terrorist”.

After weeks of pressure to keep the crew members deprived of their freedom, on September 27, 2022, the federal judge of Argentina, Federico Villena, dismissed 14 of the 19 crew members of the hijacked plane, and finally, on October 14, the same judge authorized the departure of the remaining five members, two Venezuelans and three Iranians.

Villena dictated the lack of merit due to the lack of firm evidence to prosecute Venezuelan and Iranian officials for the alleged crime of financing terrorist activities, nor for alleged espionage, and resolved the situation following the request of the Federal Chamber of La Plata.

On December 29, 2022, Judge Villena ordered the definitive seizure of the EMTRASUR aircraft.

In May 2023, the Argentine judiciary rejected the appeal of the company EMTRASUR and confirmed the seizure of the Venezuelan plane. The Federal Chamber of La Plata argued that the request for annulment submitted by Venezuelan lawyers was “abstract”.

In early January 2024, Judge Federico Villena, with jurisdiction over Ezeiza International Airport, accepted the U.S. request and ordered the aircraft to be delivered to the North American nation.

In the early morning of Monday, February 12, the United States confirmed the theft of the EMTRASUR plane, owned by Venezuela and illegally held by Argentine authorities since June 2022.

The Government of Venezuela rejected the “shameless theft” of the plane it owned in a conspiracy between the governments of the United States and Argentina, under the new administration of the extreme right Javier Milei.

Finally, on February 29, the U.S. government decided to destroy and dismember the plane, an action that Venezuela categorically rejected and denounced to the International Community the violation of the rules of international law, warning that it would carry out all legal, diplomatic and political measures “to safeguard its rights as a sovereign country in the defense of its patrimonial assets.”

Mazo News Team