The newly sworn-in president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, said early Friday afternoon (26) that a plane that would transport former presidents of Latin American countries to observe Sunday’s (28) presidential election in Venezuela was prevented from continuing to Caracas.
“The Copa plane carrying former President Mireya Moscoso and other former presidents bound for Venezuela was not allowed to take off from Tocumen while they were on board, due to the blockade of Venezuelan airspace. Another Copa flight to Panama from Caracas was not allowed to take off,” Mulino wrote in X.
According to press outlets in Panama and Colombia, the plane also included former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga; Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico; Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, former president of Costa Rica; and Marta Lucía Ramírez, former vice president of Colombia.
They are part of the group of former Ibero-American presidents Democratic Initiative of Spain and the Americas (IDEA).
On Wednesday (24), Chavismo’s number 2, Diosdado Cabello, had threatened to prevent politicians from entering Venezuela, claiming that they were not invited to carry out electoral observation.
“Do they think they can enter Venezuela like this? And that when they arrive, we’re going to be scared? If you’re not invited to a party, what are you supposed to say?” Cabello said during her TV show Con el Mazo Dando, broadcast on VTV.
“They are not invited, they like to put on a show, they believe that, with this, we will say: ‘Ah, if they show up at the airport…’ We will expel them, we will expel them, no problem!”, added the ally of dictator Nicolás Maduro.
According to information from the Efecto Cocuyo website, a recent resolution from the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs established “strict control” on “the movement of people across borders, both by land, air and sea, as well as the passage of vehicles,” due to the presidential election in Venezuela, but did not refer to any type of traffic ban.