Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks during a meeting with ministers at Miraflores Palace in Caracas January 8, 2010. Chavez said he ordered two F-16 jets to intercept a U.S. military plane that twice violated Venezuelan airspace on Friday in what he called the latest provocation in the South American nation's skies. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    CARACAS, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday that he had ordered F-16 jets to intercept a U.S. military plane that twice violated Venezuelan airspace earlier in the day.

    Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Chavez said that the U.S. plane, based on the Netherlands' Curacao island in the Caribbean, intruded into Venezuelan airspace twice, the first for 15 minutes and the second 19 minutes.

    The F-16s escorted the U.S. plane out, he added.

    However, the U.S. military denied that any of its planes entered Venezuelan airspace on Friday.

    "As a matter of policy we do not fly over a nation's air space without prior consent and coordination," the U.S. Southern Command, which is in charge of U.S. military activities in the hemisphere, said in a statement. "We operate with the utmost respect for the sovereignty of the nations in our hemisphere.

    Last month, Chavez accused the United States of flying an unmanned spy plane into Venezuela's airspace and vowed to shoot down any similar aircraft in the future.

    Venezuela suspended diplomatic ties with Colombia in July in response to a U.S.-Colombian military base deal, saying it would pave the way for the United States to invade Venezuela. Both Washington and Bogota denied the allegation.