Politics
09:59, 06-Apr-2018
Venezuela suspends flights by Panama airline for three months
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Venezuela has announced a three-month suspension of flights by Panamanian airline Copa amid a deepening diplomatic row between the two Latin American nations.
All Copa flights "to and from the country are suspended as of April 6, 2018, as a measure to protect the Venezuelan financial system," Venezuela's National Civil Aviation Institute (INAC) said on Thursday.
Copa, a crucial provider of international flights following a sharp reduction in airline services to crisis-stricken Venezuela, did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier on Thursday officials in Panama said the country was withdrawing its ambassador in Caracas.
In a statement issued on Thursday evening, Panama said the move was a response to Venezuela's decision to halt commercial relations with a host of Panamanian officials and companies, including Copa and President Juan Carlos Varela, for alleged involvement in money laundering.
The resolution names Varela and nearly two dozen Cabinet ministers and top-ranking officials, and says Panama's financial system had been used by Venezuelan nationals involved in acts of corruption.
The individuals named in the resolution "present an imminent risk to the (Venezuelan) financial system, the stability of commerce in the country, and the sovereignty and economic independence of the Venezuelan people," Venezuela said.
The statement came a week after Panama declared Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and some 50 Venezuelan nationals as "high risk" for laundering money and financing terrorism.
Varela, in brief comments to reporters on Thursday, described the Venezuelan announcement as nonsensical.
"We have not heard anything about breaking relations but rather about a set of supposed sanctions – it's gibberish," he said.
Venezuela has been hit with sanctions by Canada, the United States and a number of other countries over issues ranging from human rights violations to corruption and drug trafficking.
Maduro says the country is a victim of an "economic war" led by his adversaries with the help of Washington, and says the sanctions are part of foreign countries' efforts to undermine his government.
Source(s): AFP
,Reuters