The Venezuelan-Iranian plane paralyzed in Buenos Aires for alleged links to terrorism visited Cuba several times and, according to the president of Paraguay, one of its crew members had a face operation on the island to avoid being recognized.
The screenshot of one of its routes in real time to Havana was shared in the Facebook group Lovers of Cuban aviation and corresponds to April 5 of this year, although one of the users comments that the ship in conflict YV -3531 from Emtrasur frequently entered the Island.
“Wasn’t he the one who visited us recently?” a participant in the group asked sharing the news of the arrest of the plane in Ezeiza on June 6. “He didn’t visit us recently, he visited us three times a week, he was a regular in Havana,” replies another, a statement supported by up to four users, one of whom shows the route between Caracas and the Cuban capital on a radar.
“He didn’t visit us recently, he visited us three times a week, he was a regular in Havana”
According to some analysts, the Emtrasur Cargo plane, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan state-owned Conviasa, may be the spearhead of an espionage or terrorism operation. The ship is still stranded in Argentina, which is investigating the 19 crew members for international terrorism, since one of its members, Gholamreza Gashemi, has the same name as a member of the Quds Force, accused of being behind the attack against a Israeli center in Buenos Aires, in 1994, with a balance of 85 dead and 300 wounded.
This Wednesday, the president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, confirmed that the same ship landed in his country in May and that an investigation determined that, in fact, part of the crew is linked to these serious crimes.
“Paraguayan intelligence did a great job to be able to determine the danger of this flight and, since Paraguay reported and alerted, inquiries could be made,” said Abdo Benítez. The president, who affirmed that more things will be known, clearly assured that one of the crew members “even had an operation to change his face in Cuba.”
The plane, which belonged to the Iranian company Mahan Air, landed on May 13 in Paraguay and left on the 16th with a load of cigarettes bound for Aruba. The Paraguayan government said that 18 crew members were flying, 11 Venezuelans and 7 Iranians, of which at least one has been identified by local officials, citing US reports, of alleged links to terrorism.
“Paraguayan intelligence did a great job to determine the danger of this flight and, since Paraguay reported and alerted, inquiries could be made”
Iran has responded by describing the accusations against the Iranian crew members as “vain and unfounded” and considered that they have not been consistent “with the history of friendly relations” between Tehran and Asunción.
The conflictive aircraft has a lease contract since January 23 of this year with Emtrasur, which has made Caracas its main base of operations and China, Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Cuba among its frequent destinations.
As a result of the conflict generated, the flights of the also Venezuelan company Estelar, leased by Cubana de Aviación, cannot land in Buenos Aires, so a group of Argentine tourists are stranded on the island while their situation is resolved, although some have been able to find accommodation and it is unknown how many people are currently affected by the problem.
Also, some Cubans who planned to fly to Uruguay or Chile by this route are also among those affected.
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