OAS Concerned Russian Military Planes With Possible Nuclear Capacity In Venezuela

The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) said Wednesday that it takes note with the greatest concern of the news coming from Venezuela about the possibility that aircraft capable of using nuclear weapons from Russia are in its territory.

“The presence of this foreign military mission violates the Venezuelan Constitution because it has not been authorized by the National Assembly, as required by Article 187, paragraph 11,” the OAS said in a statement, adding, “Therefore, we consider such an act harmful to Venezuelan sovereignty.”

The OAS added that this action may also be in violation of fundamental norms of international law. Venezuela is a State Party to the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (“Treaty of Tlatelolco”), whose first article prohibits the receipt, storage or possession of nuclear weapons by States party or by third parties in their territory.

“The adoption of this treaty was a great achievement for Latin America and the Caribbean, which would made us the first region free of nuclear weapons. Its violation is a serious threat to international peace and security,” the OAS said.

The OAS said it urges the bodies established in this agreement to adopt the necessary measures to verify compliance by Venezuela with its obligations, ensure that the region is not in the presence of nuclear weapons as defined in Article 5 of the Treaty of Tlatelolco, and if a violation is found, that both the United Nations and the OAS be immediately informed, as established in Article 21.

Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that two Tu-160 strategic bombers, An-124 heavy military transport aircraft and Il-62 long-haul aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces had landed at the international airport of Maiquetía earlier this week.

On Tuesday, there was a meeting of Russia’ Commander of Long-Range Air Force Lieutenant General Sergey Kobylash with the leadership of the Venezuelan National Bolivarian Military Aviation, which took place as part of the international visit of Aerospace Forces delegation to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

They discussed cooperation of flight specialists and technical staff of the two countries for the period of stay of the Aerospace Forces aircraft at the Maiquetía airport during the meeting, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.