Planes using Venezuelan airspace to smuggle drugs will be shot down, according to the Air Interception Law, warned the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, on Wednesday, October 2 in a speech broadcasted through the country's television.
According to information published by El Tiempo, the controversial President manifested that the measure has the objective of making a clear message to whoever tries to smuggle drugs through Venezuelan airspace.
"Let drug traffickers know that starting today (Wednesday) any plane that enters Venezuela (to smuggle drugs) will be forced to land in peace, or else it will by shot down by our Sukhoi, our F-16s and the entire Venezuelan Air Force", Maduro warned, according to the same source.
Maduro said that in accordance with the Air Interception Law of Venezuela, the government has the right to shoot down any plane illegally entering Venezuelan airspace with the purpose of smuggling drugs.
"I will begin applying this law. Immediately (...) in coordination with our military forces", said Maduro in the event in which Venezuelan military personnel also participated, quoted El Tiempo.
It's worth remembering that the Law of Control for the Integral Defense of Airspace was proposed in 2011 by the late President Hugo Chávez, as a measure to fight drug trafficking.
After Chávez' death, the law was approved in May of last year, passed by the socialist majority of the Venezuelan National Assembly, however, the ruling for its application and execution was approved in October, highlights La Semana.es on its website.
The same source informs that the current President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, said on Venezuelan television that the Bolivarian Revolution has maintained, since its rise to power in 1999, a continuous fight against drug trafficking in the region. A position that with the approval of the new measure is "maintained and reinforced", he said.
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