Panama says flights operating normally after Venezuela plane was blocked

Authorities from Venezuela and Panama on Friday said normal air travel had resumed between the countries after Panama had earlier accused Venezuela of blocking a plane carrying ex-presidents en route to Caracas to observe Sunday's election. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said on social media earlier on Friday that the plane had been denied permission to take off as long as the former presidents were on board. One of the passengers, former Mexican President Vicente Fox, shared a video from Tocumen Airport in Panama, in which he said: "(Venezuela President) Nicolas Maduro has caused all Copa flights heading to Caracas and Venezuela to be suspended." Flights had since resumed, Panama's Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha said later on Friday. "The Venezuelan government blocked the airspace of its country to Copa Airlines for several hours," he said. Among the passengers on the plane, as well as Fox, were Panama's Mireya Moscoso, Costa Rica's Miguel Angel Rodriguez and Bolivia's Jorge Quiroga. They said at a press conference that they would like to be in Venezuela, but did not specify if they would still seek to travel there. Venezuela's state aerospace authority and the country's transportation minister said Mulino's earlier assertion was false and posted photos of Copa Airlines operating in Venezuelan airspace from flight tracking website FlightRadar.<br/>