Colombia announced this weekend that a balloon had flown over its territory after the United States warned Friday of a “Chinese surveillance balloon” sighted over Latin America.
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The Colombian Air Force said the balloon was spotted and monitored until it left national airspace on Friday morning, affirming that at no point did it “threaten” the country’s security and defenses.
On February 3, “the National Air Defense System detected an object over 55,000 feet entering Colombian airspace through the country’s northern sector, moving at an average speed of 25 knots and having the characteristics of a balloon,” the army said in a statement on Saturday.
The Colombian Air Force added that it was “conducting verifications with different countries and institutions to determine the origin of the object.”
On Friday, the Pentagon said a second Chinese surveillance balloon was sighted over Latin America, a day after a similar balloon was found over the United States.
No information was given at the time about the location of this second balloon or its trajectory.
The US military shot down the Chinese balloon flying over the United States on orders from President Joe Biden on Saturday, drawing sharp criticism from Beijing.