VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHZP #0710 2652241
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 222241Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY PANAMA
TO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS IMMEDIATE 1185
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3764
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000710 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAIR PM VE
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA DETAINS COPA AIRLINES PLANE 
 
Classified By: DCM David Gilmour, Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Vice President and Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Varela 
told Ambassador September 21 that Venezuela had recently 
detained a COPA Airlines 737 in Maracaibo for two days, 
evidently in retaliation for the GOP having permitted 
anti-Chavez protests in Panama earlier this month. 
 
¶2. (C) Varela said the Venezuelans had detained the aircraft 
ostensibly because its flight safety paperwork was not in 
order (NOTE: COPA operates all late model B737s, and their 
fleet is one of the youngest in the hemisphere).  Varela said 
he spent an entire weekend making phone calls and negotiating 
with the Venezuelans to get the place released. 
 
¶3. (C) President Ricardo Martinelli has made it clear that 
his government is strongly opposed to Chavez' policies, and 
Martinelli is proud to cast himself as a bulwark against 
extreme leftwing governments in the region.  Martinelli and 
Varela have both been sympathetic to the de facto Micheletti 
government in Honduras.  Concerning this particular incident 
with the COPA plane, Varela said "He (Chavez) was testing us." 
 
STEPHENSON 
STEPHENSON