(Reuters) -Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said on Friday that a plane with former Latin American presidents en route to observe Sunday’s Venezuela election had not been allowed to take off due to a blockade of Venezuela’s airspace.
Last week, Venezuela issued a decree closing border movements by land, air and sea from midnight on Friday. The government said it was an attempt to maintain security and protect the presidential election in which President Nicolas Maduro is pursuing a third term.
Among the passengers on the plane were former presidents, including Panama’s Mireya Moscoso and Mexico’s Vicente Fox.
“The aircraft was denied permission to take off from Tocumen as long as they remain on board,” Mulino said on X.
“Nicolas Maduro has caused all Copa flights heading to Caracas and Venezuela to be suspended,” Fox said in a video at Tocumen Airport, after leaving the plane.
Venezuela’s Ministry of Information and Copa Airlines did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Panama’s foreign ministry has summoned Venezuela’s diplomatic representative in Panama, Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha said on X.
Martinez-Acha said in a separate post that “The Venezuelan transportation minister assures us that as of this moment there will be no impediment for Copa flights in both directions.”
Earlier in the week, former Argentine President Alberto Fernandez and Brazil’s electoral court both withdrew from acting as observers in Venezuela’s presidential election, fueling concerns about the fairness and transparency of the vote.
Senior U.S. officials told reporters on Friday that Washington found it concerning that Maduro had taken steps to restrict international monitoring, and urged Maduro to reconsider the decision to prevent regional ex-presidents from traveling to observe.
Maduro has said the country has the world’s most transparent electoral system.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Additional reporting by Vivian Sequera and Elida Moreno; Editing by Sarah Morland and Rosalba O’Brien)
