António Araújo / Lusa
US refueling aircraft parked at Lajes Air Base (Terceira Island, Azores) in June.
Three US aircraft to Israel made a scale at the Azorean base of the Lajes on April 22, without prior communication to the Portuguese government. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) speaks of a “failure of procedure” and announced wanting to investigate responsibilities.
A prior communication that US aircraft would make a scale in the slabs on 22 April, it should have been done Paulo Rangelthe head of Portuguese diplomacy. But now it is known that such it didn’t happen.
In a statement, MNE indicates that the operation had “communication and tacit authorization (that is, for the course of the respective period). ”The communication had already the favorable opinion of AAN (National Aeronautical Authority), which depends on the Ministry of National Defense. Normally, it clarifies,“ the minister’s office is never informed of these communications and tacit authorizations ”.
However, “given to sensitivity of the questionthis communication should have been reported to the minister’s office [Paulo Rangel] Before the authorization period is exhausted, ”he says.
“Obvious Failure of Procedure”
This situation configured a “obvious failure of procedure, contrary to the internal instructions given by the minister of state and foreign affairs, otherwise, publicly known, ”adds the note of the Palace of Needs.
O Ministry will move forward with “an investigation of responsibilities and modification of procedures to prevent such procedural failures from occurring again, especially in tacit authorization processes. ”
O Case was raised last Monday by the Spanish newspaper El Paíswhich reported that there would have been Israelite planes pass through the Lajes base, on Terceira Island, in the Azores.
In the statement, MNE emphasizes, however, that this “scale in the slabs and fly over three American aircraft to deliver Israel” It does not mean that “the commitment was strictly violated assumed by the Ministry or the Government in this matter ”, referring to the embargo for the sale of weapons and passage through the national territory of military material to Israeldetermined by the executive of Luís Montenegro.
