CARACAS, December 5. /TASS/. Venezuela’s armed forces have intercepted 28 light aircraft violating the country’s airspace this year, Domingo Hernandez Larez, chief of the Venezuelan army strategic operational command, told Venezolana de Televisión.

He said that early warning systems of the republic’s aerospace forces spotted a Cessna 310 two-engine plane that had entered the Venezuelan airspace in the east of the State of Bolivar with its transponders switched off. The plane was intercepted by three F-16 fighter jets.

According to the commander, this was the 28th light plane intercepted this year and the 419th one since 2013.

"Venezuela is a country of peace, freedom and democracy, law and justice, which is fighting against drug trafficking day after day. We do not manufacture, process or use drugs, the more so, we are not a platform for transnational drug terrorism," he stressed.

Washington has accused Caracas of not doing enough to combat drug smuggling. Under this pretext, the US deployed large forces to the Caribbean. A strike group of US warships led by the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, o nuclear-powered submarine, and more than 16,000 troops have reportedly been deployed by the United States to the Caribbean. Since September, the US has destroyed at least 20 boats and eliminated more than 80 people allegedly involved in drug trafficking from Venezuela.

On November 29, US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that all "airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers" should consider the airspace over and around Venezuela "closed in its entirety." According to The New York Times, US President Donald Trump has authorized CIA covert operations in Venezuela. According to the US media, Washington may begin delivering strikes on drug cartels in Venezuela in the near future.