CARACAS, Venezuela, Muharram 27, 1437, November 09, 2015, SPA -- Venezuela claims a U.S. Coast Guard plane it describes as an intelligence aircraft violated the South American country's airspace, AP reported. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said Sunday the Dash-8 aircraft flew out of Curacao, a Dutch island not far off Venezuela's Caribbean coast. He said that during a 30-minute period the plane twice entered Venezuelan airspace over the tiny archipelago of Los Monjes on Friday while performing what appeared to be a reconnaissance mission in the Gulf of Venezuela, which is also bounded by Colombia. In comments on the state channel Telesur, Padrino said other U.S. reconnaissance and military transport aircraft had flown close to Venezuela in recent days. He said the timing of the apparent maneuvers, as the country prepares for key legislative elections next month, was suspicious, recalling other U.S. military exercises that allegedly preceded a brief coup in 2002 against then President Hugo Chavez. "It's completely unusual that these types of aircraft, with all their electronic surveillance characteristics, to come near our area of influence," said Padrino, adding that the USS George Washington aircraft carrier would pass nearby Venezuela around the same time as the Dec. 6 vote. --SPA 02:17 LOCAL TIME 23:17 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w