The scandal of the Emtrasur plane seized in Argentina for its alleged links with Iranian terrorism continues to generate repercussions in the region. On Wednesday, the Paraguayan prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation on suspicion of terrorist association and financing of terrorism. And now the alarms have also gone off in Chile, where the opposition has asked that the landing of another Venezuelan-Iranian plane in Santiago be investigated.
“Iranian Venezuelan plane in Chile? Urgent explanation of Interior and Foreign Affairs. It would not be surprising if this plane brings more than just tourists. In Argentina, a plane and its crew were seized and possible links with terrorist organizations are being investigated,” ex-presidential candidate José Antonio Kast claimed in the last few hours. The leader competed against Gabriel Boric in the last elections.
The aircraft under suspicion is an Airbus A340-642, registration YV3533, which The Venezuelan state-owned company Conviasa has been operating since it was transferred by Mahan Air on March 15. Both airlines are sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury: the first to transport weapons, resources and personnel of terrorist organizations; and the second for serving the corrupt operations of the Nicolás Maduro regime.
The plane landed this Wednesday, June 22, at the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport from Caracas. It is the same plane that Maduro used on his tour that took him to Tehran two weeks ago to strengthen cooperation between Iran and Venezuela.
However, this is not the first time that this Venezuelan-Iranian plane has set foot on Chilean soil. The portal El Líbero identified in the records of the open source platform Flightradar that the aircraft has made at least five trips from Caracas to Santiago.
This Conviasa plane is the same one that landed four times at the Ezeiza airport between April and May, before the scandal broke out with the Emtrasur cargo plane. For this Conviasa plane, the Argentine opposition has already submitted an urgent Report Request to the Government of Alberto Fernández for explanations.
The national deputy Waldo Wolff requested that the complete list of the crew of the aircraft Airbus A340-600 registration YV3533 be provided on flights registered on April 28 (V09990), May 3 (V03550), May 9 (V03602) and May 17 (V03550).
The parliamentarian also requested that “precise information be provided regarding the ownership of the aircraft, detail the itinerary of each flight and the reasons for its passage through the Argentine Republic.” In addition, he requested that they be informed if they received any alert, before or after their landing.
A Conviasa plane, the Venezuelan airline suspected of aiding the Maduro regime in corruption.
These controversial flights occurred after the head of the National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC), Paola Tamborelli, signed a memorandum to expand the trade routes of Conviasa to Argentina, despite the sanctions imposed against the airline.
One of the questions that arises about these four flights of the Iranian Conviasa plane is whether the oil companies that operate in Argentina, and especially YPF, supplied it with fuel in breach of US Treasury sanctions.
