The governments of Curacao and Aruba say the U.S. has promised its military aircraft will turn on their transponders in their airspace. “Additional measures are in place to ensure the safety of Aruba’s airspace, including an agreement that U.S. military aircraft keep their transponders activated while operating in or near Aruba’s airspace,” Aruba Online paraphrased government officials as saying during a news conference on Wednesday. The announcement came after at least two losses of separation between civilian aircraft and U.S. Air Force tankers off the coast of Venezuela last weekend. The popular vacation spots are islands about 40 miles off Venezuela’s north coast and the incidents involved a JetBlue A320 and a private Falcon jet.
Aruba and neighboring Curacao are right in the edge of the escalating tensions in the area as the U.S. presses regime change in Venezuela. The temperature went up earlier this week as the U.S. commandeered an oil tanker and threatened to seize more. Aruban officials said that in addition to lighting up the local radars, the U.S. has pledged to safeguard commercial ship and aviation traffic, which are crucial to the tourism-dependent countries’ economies.
“… the U.S. has pledged to safeguard commercial ship and aviation traffic…”
You mean, there is someone with, at least, half a brain in this administration?