A federal judge in Argentina last week declared allegations fallacious that the US government tried to smuggle illicit arms and narcotics into Buenos Aires last month aboard an Air Force C-17. “The matter investigated does not constitute a crime,” stated the judge in his March 10 ruling from the Argentine capital, reported the Wall Street Journal. Argentine officials on Feb. 14 seized US military equipment, including firearms and medical doses of morphine, that the US military brought into Ezeiza International Airport on the C-17 for use in training Argentine police forces in counterterrorism. The seizure strained US-Argentine relations, according to the newspaper.
F-35As from the Vermont Air National Guard have deployed to Puerto Rico in recent days, continuing a major buildup of U.S. Air Force assets in Latin America aimed at combating drug trafficking and pressuring the regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
