Panama says flights operating normally after Venezuela plane was blocked

By Elida Moreno and Vivian Sequera

CARACAS/PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Authorities from Venezuela and Panama on Friday said normal air travel had resumed between the countries after Panama had earlier accused Venezuela of blocking a plane carrying ex-presidents en route to Caracas to observe Sunday's election.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said on social media earlier on Friday that the plane had been denied permission to take off as long as the former presidents were on board.

One of the passengers, former Mexican President Vicente Fox, shared a video from Tocumen Airport in Panama, in which he said: "(Venezuela President) Nicolas Maduro has caused all Copa flights heading to Caracas and Venezuela to be suspended."

Flights had since resumed, Panama's Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha said later on Friday.

"The Venezuelan government blocked the airspace of its country to Copa Airlines for several hours," he said.

Among the passengers on the plane, as well as Fox, were Panama's Mireya Moscoso, Costa Rica's Miguel Angel Rodriguez and Bolivia's Jorge Quiroga. They said at a press conference that they would like to be in Venezuela, but did not specify if they would still seek to travel there.

Venezuela's state aerospace authority and the country's transportation minister said Mulino's earlier assertion was false and posted photos of Copa Airlines operating in Venezuelan airspace from flight tracking website FlightRadar.

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 on Sunday, in which Maduro is pursuing a third term in office.

Senior U.S. officials told reporters on Friday that Washington found it concerning that Maduro had taken steps to restrict international monitoring, and urged him to reconsider the apparent decision to prevent regional ex-presidents from traveling to observe.

Panama's foreign ministry summoned Venezuela's diplomatic representative in the Central American country. Martinez-Acha said there was no intention to break diplomatic relations with Venezuela, but that the Panamanian government "acted in response to an unforeseen event."

"The aircraft was denied permission to take off from Tocumen as long as they remain on board," Mulino had said earlier on X.

Venezuela's Ministry of Information and Copa Airlines did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Earlier in the week, former Argentine President Alberto Fernandez and Brazil's electoral court both withdrew from acting as observers in the election, fueling concerns about the fairness and transparency of the vote. Maduro has said the country has the world's most transparent electoral system.

Senior U.S. officials said on Friday they were closely watching the final lead-up to the vote and would "calibrate" Washington's sanctions policy towards Venezuela depending on how the election unfolded.

(This story has been refiled to fix a typo in the headline)

(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez in Mexico City, Vivian Sequera in Caracas and Elida Moreno in Panama City; Editing by Sarah Morland and Rosalba O'Brien)