US Military Planes Soar Over Colombia, Land in Bogota

Amid international pressures, U.S. military aircraft have been spotted over Colombia, local media outlets report.

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For the second time in two days, several U.S. military planes were seen soaring over Colombia. The most recent sighting, reported by Aircraft Spots, is a EO-5C N177RA PLOMO27 spy plane.

Voice of America journalist Steve Herman tweeted, “Another intriguing U.S. military aircraft spotting over #Colombia now -- a @USArmy EO-5C, likely being used for communications intercepts from #Venezuela.”

Several planes, including one C17A cargo plane Globemaster - used for military transport - and one Boeing 737, landed on the outskirts of Bogota at Air Command Military Transport (Catam) airport, a Colombian radio station, The FM, reported Wednesday.

The planes arrived at about 3:00 pm from the Dover air base in Delaware, one of the country’s busiest military bases, before leaving four hours later.

“A rare flight today of a @usairforce Globemaster (max payload: ~77,000 kg) from Dover AFB to #Colombia (and now heading back). It spent ~4 hours on the ground at Bogota,” Herman said.

On Monday, during a televised address, the words “5,000 soldiers in Colombia," were seen scrawled across a notebook  "carelessly" carried by U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Herman told his followers, “For those wondering- in view of the '5,000 troops to #Colombia' notation on @AmbJohnBolton's pad)- a C17 only can carry ~100 troops per flight.”

However, Colombia’s journalists at The FM responded, “The C17 aircraft have capacity for 102 special assault forces or 134 soldiers in side chairs. Heavy cargo, military, an M1 Abrams tank, three Strykers or 6 M11 16. They can carry a total of 77 tons of cargo."

The United States and its right-wing allies recognized opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido as Venezula's "interim president" after he self-proclaimed himself such on Jan. 23, an illegal and unconstitutional move and a rejection of the second term of Nicolas Maduro, who won last year's May elections.

Guaido, the United States and right-wing governments in the region have been calling on the Venezuelan military to oust Maduro. However, the country's defense minister and top military brass have come out in support of Maduro and his government.

There have been whispers in Washington that the Donald Trump administration is “seriously considering” a military intervention in Venezuela if Maduro does not step down or be ousted internally.

Since the beginning of the recent political crisis, president Maduro has repeatedly said he was open to dialogue with the opposition and its leader Guiado in order to seek a peaceful resolution to the current situation.