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Description

This is the first in a series of pieces about a hypothetical armed conflict between the US and Venezuela which ties into a story that I may or may not actually write some day. Hopefully, nothing like this will ever happen in real life. Some true real life events are also mentioned or alluded to, but many have been condensed and the real people involved have been replaced with composite characters. I did my best to get the geography at least somewhat right.

Spectacular artwork done by Jetfreak-7 ! Whatever your politics, you have to admit that those Venezuelan F-16s look awesome in Jungle camo!

The Cucuta Incident (named after the Colombian border city of Cucuta, around which much of it took place) was a brief but deadly border clash between Venezuelan and Colombian military forces. It was the first real instance of air to air combat over South America since the 1995 Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador. It also marked the first time ever that the Venezuelan Air Force did battle with military aircraft from another country and the first time that the Colombian Air Force had done so since their war with Peru in the early 1930s.

By late Summer of 2019, the Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela (FANB) were most certainly not in a very good state. Although unsuccessful, the coup attempt the previous Winter had resulted in the desertion of hundreds of service members. In a serious blow for the Air Force in particular, their own Commanding General, Juan Jose Rojos, had defected to the United States along with several members of his staff. Miguel Sosa, former head of SEBIN (Venezuelan Intelligence Service), had also turned.

President Jorge Carballo had become increasingly paranoid as a result, preferring to use members of the much more politically minded (though far less disciplined and equipped) National Militia for parade and security duties as opposed to the regular military. He also began confiding far more with his Cuban military advisers and less with his native Venezuelan ones. Morale among the FANB became exceptionally low as a result, and many service members would be days or even weeks late getting back from the Easter holiday. The Brass thought it best not to punish them.

Things would get even worse for the Air Force in June when another high ranking member, a Brigadier General named Kaiser Espinoza along with several bodyguards, was ambushed and assassinated by a local gang. The incident occurred under suspicious circumstances and is still under much dispute to this day. The assassination was followed in the ensuing weeks by two deadly military aircraft crashes. The first was an Army Mi-8 helicopter that claimed the lives of multiple military officers. The second was one of their Sukoi Su-30MK2 fighter jets which killed both the pilot and backseat WSO (weapon systems officer). Another had already been lost in a similar incident a few years prior. This left them with 22 Su-30s, not all of which were not fully operational.

On the morning of September 3rd, under authorization from President Carballo, the Venezuelan PNB (National Police) and GNB (Army National Guard) executed a massive joint raid on a drug compound in the border city of San Antonio del Tachira. The Colombian gang operating inside the compound was known for its excessive brutality (even by the standards of the region) and was as hated by Colombia's government as it was by Venezuela's. It was also a major competitor to the ELN, a Leftist Colombian militant group (officially labeled as terrorists in Colombia itself) which was semi allied with the Venezuelan government and funded much of its operations through drug trafficking in both countries.

The raid didn't exactly go as smoothly as predicted. The gang bangers in the compound had military grade weaponry, and some were even veterans the Colombian Army. They put up an unexpectedly fierce resistance, resulting in multiple Venezuelan police being killed or wounded. A handful of bangers even managed to fight their way out and make a run for the border. Venezuelan Army regulars stationed near the border attempted to intercept the runners as they were crossing the Rio Tachira into Colombia. However, soldiers on the Colombian side had been alerted by all the activity, and a tense stand off began. To this day, it is still unclear who fired first.

As the firefight ensued, both sides would bring in heavier firepower, including mortars and even helicopter gunships. A Colombian UH-60L Black Hawk ended up being damaged and forced to withdraw. A Venezuelan Mi-17V5 “Hip” took several hits and had to make a hard emergency landing, wounding some of it's crew. But the incident is perhaps most known for what happened next.

Shorty after the fighting began, Colombia scrambled two flights of two Kfir COAs, an Israeli made fighter jet based on the old French Mirage V. Venezuelan radar immediately picked these aircraft up and two of their F-16A Falcons from a forward air base in San Antonia del Tachira were scrambled in response. Venezuela had been the first Latin American country to export the F-16, but a years long US embargo had prevented them from purchasing any new spare parts for them. As a result, only a handful of Falcons were still operational. The two F-16s that flew that day were piloted by First Lieutenant Ariana Perez and Lieutenant Rodrigo Tejamas.

“Tejamas and I had been stationed at San Antonio del Tachira since the so-called “Battle of the Bridges” the previous February. The facility been previously been a commercial airport but hard times forced it to close and be repatriated by the government as a small forward air base to help monitor the border. Things got a little tense during the April 1st coup attempt, but 90% of our time was spent sitting around and waiting, interspersed with the usual PT {physical training} sessions and the odd “show of force” patrol or two to keep the people at ease. Basically the same routine as it was over at El Libertador except there were only a handful of other aircraft and a lot less people around. Then came that fateful morning of September 3rd. It didn't take long to find out about the raid, but when we scrambled that morning, we thought it was just be a another air show to deter any would-be Colombian border marksman from taking potshots. Neither me nor Rodrigo had any idea what we were getting into.”
-Ariana Perez

A four ship flight of Su-30s were also scrambled over at Venezuela's main air base at El Libertador, but being both slower and further away, would take some time to arrive. The Russian made Su-30 “Flanker-C” was newer and more numerous due to Venezuela's good relations with that country. They also had decent BVR (beyond visual range) capability with R-77-1 “Adder” radar homing missiles that could out range anything the Kfirs or Falcons had.

Two of the Colombian Kfirs flying over the border city of Cucuta were piloted by Captain Christopher Loba and Lieutenant Hugo Rendon. Their aircraft were just as old as Venezuela's Falcons, but they'd received notable upgrades in recent years and carried Python-5 inferred homing missiles. These reliable Israeli heatseeking missiles could potentially hit a target from twenty kilometers away, giving the Kfir some limited BVR capability.

Colombia's DNI (National Intelligence Directorate) had concluded that the old US made AIM-7M Sparrows, medium range radar guided missiles used by the Venezuelan Falcons, were decades old and too degraded to be effective. This meant that the F-16s had to rely on their older Python 4 missiles, which lacked the range of Colombia's Python 5s. Due to this advantage, the Kfir pilots had therefore been given permission to cross the border and engage the Venezuelan F-16s “if they saw fit” by their Air Command. Having picked up Perez and Tejamas on their radar directly across the border over El Tama National Park, and with the more capable Flankers still on route, Loba and Rendon decided to take their chance.

The DNI turned out to only be half right, however, as Iranian Air Force engineers had recently paid a secret visit to Venezuela. Their purpose was to teach their Bolivarian counterparts a few tricks about maintaining old US weapon systems while under an embargo.

“I remember when I first met them {the Iranian engineers}. They'd come to give some pointers to the tech crews and operators who worked with US systems (this included Falcon pilots like me). Twelve middle aged men with obvious long time experience in their eyes. A couple were actually pretty handsome looking, I'm not ashamed to say. I was taken aback that almost all of them had beards. Senior male officers in our Air Force couldn't even get away with a mustache. I also noticed a few of them bristle when they first saw me. Maybe they were upset to see a woman in my position, maybe they just wished that I'd put on one of those hajabs, I don't know. To their credit, they never made a fuss about it and carried themselves professionally throughout the visit. Most of them weren't exactly fluent in Spanish, but we had good interpreters and got through it. After days of lecturing and demonstrations, they shared with us some native made (and distinctly non-alcoholic) beer that they'd brought with them. No surprise, it tasted quite disgusting. Still, the stories they told while we drank more than made up for it, as many of them had worked on and flown classic old US jets like the Phantom and Tomcat.”
-Ariana Perez

Perez and Tejamas detected the two Colombian Kfirs crossing into Venezuelan air space and coming straight for them. They were then given authorization by ground control to engage and immediately turned in to the intruders. The two pairs of warplanes were now heading right at each other.

Just as Capt, Loba and Lt. Rendon were beginning to acquire a lock on the F-16s with their Python 5s at 25 miles out, the Colombian pilots got the shock of their lives. The Falcons had already acquired missile locks of their own, and the Kfirs' alarm systems screamed as two Aim-7 Sparrow missiles were launched at them. The two Kfir pilots then quickly executed a defensive split maneuver. The Iranian “tricks” to get their Aim-7 missiles working were far from perfect however. Both Sparrows quickly lost lock and failed to track. Still, it had been enough to put the Kfirs on the defensive, thus giving Perez and Tejamas the upper hand as they closed in on the 6 o'clock positions of the Colombian jets. Perez took Rendon, Tejamas took Loba.

After a brief turning fight, 1st Lt. Perez managed to get an inferred lock on Lt. Rendon's Kfir and fired a Python 4. Rendon deployed flares and attempted to evade but Ariana's F-16 had been far too close to him when the missile was fired. The old but still reliable Israeli made missile found its ironically Israeli made target, detonating by proximity fuse rather than impacting directly. The rear and right wing of Rendon's Kifir were pummeled with shrapnel, and his engine was set on fire. This forced him to reduce his speed rather quickly as he struggled to control his critically damaged aircraft, nearly causing Perez to overshoot him. Still, the F-16 pilot managed to stay just within minimum missile range and fired a second Python 4 to finish the job.

This time, the Kfir was done for, and Rendon ejected from his doomed warplane. Perez couldn't hide her excitement as she screamed in elation over the radio. “I got him! He's punched out! Going down in flames!” This produced a brief round of cheers on the frequency. The F-16 pilot then turned her attention to her wingman who was now calling for aid.

Lt. Tejamas had engaged in a tense dogfight of his own with Capt. Loba. He'd come within a breath of getting a missile lock at one point, but the younger greener Venezuelan pilot was not quite up to par for the older more experienced Colombian. Loba was eventually able to out maneuver him and escape his sight. The nearly panicked Tejamas quickly called to Perez, who had just dispatched Rendon's Kfir but was now a good distance away. Capt. Loba on the other had already received word of his downed comrade and just as he was about to maneuver onto Tejamas's 6 o'clock, he got orders from above to disengage and RTB (return to base) immediately. The Colombian reluctantly broke off his attack, headed West towards the border and kicked on his after burner.

Now rejoined, both F-16 pilots fired Aim-7s at the escaping Kfir, but again neither successfully tracked. They then received orders not to pursue and to maintain a patrol pattern in the area until the Su-30s (which were now minutes away) arrived to relive them. The fighting on the ground meanwhile, had already subsided.

Lt. Rendon parachuted into the wilderness of El Tama National Park, breaking his ankle in the process. Realizing there was no hope of escape in his condition, he used his emergency radio to broadcast his surrender and and approximate location to the Venezuelans. A unit of Bolivarian Army soldiers found and detained him within several hours. He would be released back to Colombia a few weeks later.

The incident should have ended right there, but then the two other Colombian Kfirs, piloted by Lieutenant Franco Herrera and 2nd Lieutenant Miguel Isidro, crossed the border and attempted to engage the two F-16s. Perez and Tejamas had already fired all of their Sparrow missiles and had thus lost their range advantage. They had no choice but to turn away from the Kfirs and attempt to flee. Under normal circumstances, Kfirs were only slightly faster than F-16s, but the two Venezuelan pilots could not afford to push their older spare parts lacking air frames to the limit for risk of literally tearing them apart. But Perez and Tejamas weren't stupid. They headed straight for the Su-30s, radioing in ahead to make sure they knew what was what, and the target fixated Colombians continued to follow.

“When I heard that Rendon had gone down, I felt an anger like I never have before. He was a good friend who I'd flown with for years and we had no idea what his condition was at that point. Command had already ordered Capt. Loba to retreat but had not yet rescinded the “engage F-16s if you see fit” order to me and Isidro. So we deciding to take the opportunity, thinking we could take out at least one of those Socialist Falcon flying bastards before the Su-30s could get to us. We were wrong.”
-Franco Herrera

Then, just as the Kfirs were coming within the maximum missile range of the F-16s, the Su-30 Flanker-Cs came within range of their own R-77-1 Adders. The particular variant of the Russian made Adder the Bolivarians used had a range of up to 110 kilometers (nearly 68 miles). Knowing this, the two F-16 pilots quickly jinked to the the right to give their comrades a clear shot.

At the controls of the lead Flanker was Venezuela's most senior active fighter pilot, Lt. Colonel Javier Lamas. The equally senior Major Carlos de Pablo was his backseat WSO. The number 2 in the flight was Captain Gregori Escalante and his backseater Captain Jose Almeida. De Pablo and Almeida each acquired a radar lock on one of the Kfirs, and Lamas and Escalante each then fired two R-77s at their respected target. Herrera and Isidro both took evasive action. Herrera had just barely managed to get off a Python at Lt. Perez right beforehand, but was far enough away that she was easily able to evade it.

Herrera was able to beat both of Lamas's missiles. Isidro was able to evade the first missile fired by Escalante but not the second, which impacted directly into his cockpit, killing him instantly. Thus marked the first ever air to air kill for the Russian R-77.

Knowing that the jig was up (and now getting panicked orders to RTB over the radio from his ground control), Herrera headed back West towards the border, hugging the deck near the outskirts of the city of San Cristobel to minimize his radar signature but reducing his speed significantly to avoid hitting buildings and hills. The Flankers lost him on their radar scopes, but his relief would only be temporary.

The Venezuelans had some formidable Russian made surface to air missile systems but only a limited amount of them. As a result they were mostly deployed around the capitol city of Caracas and more important inland military bases rather than along the border. Old Russian ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns had to be relied upon in most other cases, but they weren't designed to be used against supersonic jets. By chance, the two old truck mounted ZU-23s that shot at Herrera weren't even supposed to be there. They were on their way to the border when the crews got word of the Kfirs crossing into their immediate air space and decided set up right where they were. This turned out to be the correct decision, as the low and relatively slow Kfir passed almost directly into their sights. The unexpected heavy tracer fire forced Herrera to pull up sharply to avoid being hit, giving the Flankers another clean shot.

Lamas and his flight quickly reacquired a lock on Herrera, now just over twenty miles ahead of them. This time, all four Su-30s launched an R-77 to make sure the job was done. Too low to notch, the Kfir pilot had no choice by to kick in his afterburner and attempt to outrun the missiles but he was simply too close. Herrera's Kfir was practically severed in half by the missile hit and he had to eject. In a brilliant stroke of luck, he'd made it just close enough to the border that the wind was able to carry him and his parachute over into Colombian soil. It was never confirmed which of the four Su-30s whose missile made the impact, but the Venezuelan government officially credited Lt. Col. Lamas and Maj de Pablo for the kill, as they were the ranking officers.

The Falcon and Flanker pilots each returned to a hero's welcome at their respective bases. At El Libertador, what little Champagne that could be scrounged was popped in celebration. There was no champagne whatsoever at San Antonia del Tachira but the celebration was no less spirited.

The adrenaline was still pumping as we touched down at San Antonio. As soon as I powered down, all the mechanics surrounded my plane, cheering my name and singing the National Anthem. As I tried to climb down, I was suddenly grabbed and hoisted up into the air as they proceeded to parade me around the tarmac. I looked to my left and Tejamas was also getting the same treatment. The whole scene was quite surreal for me, even more so then the actual life or death dogfight I'd just been in. Next thing I hear, there's word that the pilot I shot down had survived. I felt a sense of relief that I hadn't been responsible for taking a life. Followed by a bit of shame as I realized I hadn't even thought about it until that moment.
-Ariana Perez

When it was all said and done, two Venezuelan soldiers, two Venezuelan policemen (during the initial drug raid), three Colombian soldiers, one Colombian airman and one Colombian civilian (hit by shrapnel in the crossfire) had been killed. Several more soldiers, policemen and civilians on both sides had been wounded and one Colombian airman captured.

President Carballo personally called both bases to congratulate the pilots. Two days later, a ceremony was held in Caracas, where the three Kfir killing pilots and as well as the two WSOs were awarded ribbon bars of the Order of the Liberators of Venezuela. These were the highest honors that could be bestowed upon Venezuelan servicemen. A bit overkill perhaps, but the Bolivarian government was determined to milk the whole ordeal for all it was worth. In addition, Javier Lamas would be promoted to full Colonel and Ariana Perez to Captain.

The Colombian government did everything it could to downplay the entire incident, but the death of Lt. Isidro and capture of Lt. Rendon made doing so nearly impossible. It would later be revealed that US President Michael Dorf had been secretly pressuring Colombian President Juan Enciso to ratchet up tensions any way he could with Venezuela. That had certainly been accomplished and all out war was now becoming visible on the horizon.

Regardless, the incident proved that the FANB were far more capable then than US media and the Dorf administration would have had one believe. Even the Venezuelan people as a whole began seeing their military in a much more positive light for the first time in a while. Recruitment rates increased considerably.

The current members of the Armed Forces were by far the most effected however. For the first time since the Gunpowder Age, they had faced off against the military forces of another country and despite suffering some losses they had effectively emerged as the victor. This resulted in a significant and much need boost in morale all around. Many historians agree that were it not for the Cucuta Incident, Venezuela would not have done anywhere near as well as it did in the war to come.

But that is a story for another day...

Description

This is the first in a series of pieces about a hypothetical armed conflict between the US and Venezuela which ties into a story that I may or may not actually write some day. Hopefully, nothing like this will ever happen in real life. Some true real life events are also mentioned or alluded to, but many have been condensed and the real people involved have been replaced with composite characters. I did my best to get the geography at least somewhat right.

Spectacular artwork done by Jetfreak-7 ! Whatever your politics, you have to admit that those Venezuelan F-16s look awesome in Jungle camo!

The Cucuta Incident (named after the Colombian border city of Cucuta, around which much of it took place) was a brief but deadly border clash between Venezuelan and Colombian military forces. It was the first real instance of air to air combat over South America since the 1995 Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador. It also marked the first time ever that the Venezuelan Air Force did battle with military aircraft from another country and the first time that the Colombian Air Force had done so since their war with Peru in the early 1930s.

By late Summer of 2019, the Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela (FANB) were most certainly not in a very good state. Although unsuccessful, the coup attempt the previous Winter had resulted in the desertion of hundreds of service members. In a serious blow for the Air Force in particular, their own Commanding General, Juan Jose Rojos, had defected to the United States along with several members of his staff. Miguel Sosa, former head of SEBIN (Venezuelan Intelligence Service), had also turned.

President Jorge Carballo had become increasingly paranoid as a result, preferring to use members of the much more politically minded (though far less disciplined and equipped) National Militia for parade and security duties as opposed to the regular military. He also began confiding far more with his Cuban military advisers and less with his native Venezuelan ones. Morale among the FANB became exceptionally low as a result, and many service members would be days or even weeks late getting back from the Easter holiday. The Brass thought it best not to punish them.

Things would get even worse for the Air Force in June when another high ranking member, a Brigadier General named Kaiser Espinoza along with several bodyguards, was ambushed and assassinated by a local gang. The incident occurred under suspicious circumstances and is still under much dispute to this day. The assassination was followed in the ensuing weeks by two deadly military aircraft crashes. The first was an Army Mi-8 helicopter that claimed the lives of multiple military officers. The second was one of their Sukoi Su-30MK2 fighter jets which killed both the pilot and backseat WSO (weapon systems officer). Another had already been lost in a similar incident a few years prior. This left them with 22 Su-30s, not all of which were not fully operational.

On the morning of September 3rd, under authorization from President Carballo, the Venezuelan PNB (National Police) and GNB (Army National Guard) executed a massive joint raid on a drug compound in the border city of San Antonio del Tachira. The Colombian gang operating inside the compound was known for its excessive brutality (even by the standards of the region) and was as hated by Colombia's government as it was by Venezuela's. It was also a major competitor to the ELN, a Leftist Colombian militant group (officially labeled as terrorists in Colombia itself) which was semi allied with the Venezuelan government and funded much of its operations through drug trafficking in both countries.

The raid didn't exactly go as smoothly as predicted. The gang bangers in the compound had military grade weaponry, and some were even veterans the Colombian Army. They put up an unexpectedly fierce resistance, resulting in multiple Venezuelan police being killed or wounded. A handful of bangers even managed to fight their way out and make a run for the border. Venezuelan Army regulars stationed near the border attempted to intercept the runners as they were crossing the Rio Tachira into Colombia. However, soldiers on the Colombian side had been alerted by all the activity, and a tense stand off began. To this day, it is still unclear who fired first.

As the firefight ensued, both sides would bring in heavier firepower, including mortars and even helicopter gunships. A Colombian UH-60L Black Hawk ended up being damaged and forced to withdraw. A Venezuelan Mi-17V5 “Hip” took several hits and had to make a hard emergency landing, wounding some of it's crew. But the incident is perhaps most known for what happened next.

Shorty after the fighting began, Colombia scrambled two flights of two Kfir COAs, an Israeli made fighter jet based on the old French Mirage V. Venezuelan radar immediately picked these aircraft up and two of their F-16A Falcons from a forward air base in San Antonia del Tachira were scrambled in response. Venezuela had been the first Latin American country to export the F-16, but a years long US embargo had prevented them from purchasing any new spare parts for them. As a result, only a handful of Falcons were still operational. The two F-16s that flew that day were piloted by First Lieutenant Ariana Perez and Lieutenant Rodrigo Tejamas.

“Tejamas and I had been stationed at San Antonio del Tachira since the so-called “Battle of the Bridges” the previous February. The facility been previously been a commercial airport but hard times forced it to close and be repatriated by the government as a small forward air base to help monitor the border. Things got a little tense during the April 1st coup attempt, but 90% of our time was spent sitting around and waiting, interspersed with the usual PT {physical training} sessions and the odd “show of force” patrol or two to keep the people at ease. Basically the same routine as it was over at El Libertador except there were only a handful of other aircraft and a lot less people around. Then came that fateful morning of September 3rd. It didn't take long to find out about the raid, but when we scrambled that morning, we thought it was just be a another air show to deter any would-be Colombian border marksman from taking potshots. Neither me nor Rodrigo had any idea what we were getting into.”
-Ariana Perez

A four ship flight of Su-30s were also scrambled over at Venezuela's main air base at El Libertador, but being both slower and further away, would take some time to arrive. The Russian made Su-30 “Flanker-C” was newer and more numerous due to Venezuela's good relations with that country. They also had decent BVR (beyond visual range) capability with R-77-1 “Adder” radar homing missiles that could out range anything the Kfirs or Falcons had.

Two of the Colombian Kfirs flying over the border city of Cucuta were piloted by Captain Christopher Loba and Lieutenant Hugo Rendon. Their aircraft were just as old as Venezuela's Falcons, but they'd received notable upgrades in recent years and carried Python-5 inferred homing missiles. These reliable Israeli heatseeking missiles could potentially hit a target from twenty kilometers away, giving the Kfir some limited BVR capability.

Colombia's DNI (National Intelligence Directorate) had concluded that the old US made AIM-7M Sparrows, medium range radar guided missiles used by the Venezuelan Falcons, were decades old and too degraded to be effective. This meant that the F-16s had to rely on their older Python 4 missiles, which lacked the range of Colombia's Python 5s. Due to this advantage, the Kfir pilots had therefore been given permission to cross the border and engage the Venezuelan F-16s “if they saw fit” by their Air Command. Having picked up Perez and Tejamas on their radar directly across the border over El Tama National Park, and with the more capable Flankers still on route, Loba and Rendon decided to take their chance.

The DNI turned out to only be half right, however, as Iranian Air Force engineers had recently paid a secret visit to Venezuela. Their purpose was to teach their Bolivarian counterparts a few tricks about maintaining old US weapon systems while under an embargo.

“I remember when I first met them {the Iranian engineers}. They'd come to give some pointers to the tech crews and operators who worked with US systems (this included Falcon pilots like me). Twelve middle aged men with obvious long time experience in their eyes. A couple were actually pretty handsome looking, I'm not ashamed to say. I was taken aback that almost all of them had beards. Senior male officers in our Air Force couldn't even get away with a mustache. I also noticed a few of them bristle when they first saw me. Maybe they were upset to see a woman in my position, maybe they just wished that I'd put on one of those hajabs, I don't know. To their credit, they never made a fuss about it and carried themselves professionally throughout the visit. Most of them weren't exactly fluent in Spanish, but we had good interpreters and got through it. After days of lecturing and demonstrations, they shared with us some native made (and distinctly non-alcoholic) beer that they'd brought with them. No surprise, it tasted quite disgusting. Still, the stories they told while we drank more than made up for it, as many of them had worked on and flown classic old US jets like the Phantom and Tomcat.”
-Ariana Perez

Perez and Tejamas detected the two Colombian Kfirs crossing into Venezuelan air space and coming straight for them. They were then given authorization by ground control to engage and immediately turned in to the intruders. The two pairs of warplanes were now heading right at each other.

Just as Capt, Loba and Lt. Rendon were beginning to acquire a lock on the F-16s with their Python 5s at 25 miles out, the Colombian pilots got the shock of their lives. The Falcons had already acquired missile locks of their own, and the Kfirs' alarm systems screamed as two Aim-7 Sparrow missiles were launched at them. The two Kfir pilots then quickly executed a defensive split maneuver. The Iranian “tricks” to get their Aim-7 missiles working were far from perfect however. Both Sparrows quickly lost lock and failed to track. Still, it had been enough to put the Kfirs on the defensive, thus giving Perez and Tejamas the upper hand as they closed in on the 6 o'clock positions of the Colombian jets. Perez took Rendon, Tejamas took Loba.

After a brief turning fight, 1st Lt. Perez managed to get an inferred lock on Lt. Rendon's Kfir and fired a Python 4. Rendon deployed flares and attempted to evade but Ariana's F-16 had been far too close to him when the missile was fired. The old but still reliable Israeli made missile found its ironically Israeli made target, detonating by proximity fuse rather than impacting directly. The rear and right wing of Rendon's Kifir were pummeled with shrapnel, and his engine was set on fire. This forced him to reduce his speed rather quickly as he struggled to control his critically damaged aircraft, nearly causing Perez to overshoot him. Still, the F-16 pilot managed to stay just within minimum missile range and fired a second Python 4 to finish the job.

This time, the Kfir was done for, and Rendon ejected from his doomed warplane. Perez couldn't hide her excitement as she screamed in elation over the radio. “I got him! He's punched out! Going down in flames!” This produced a brief round of cheers on the frequency. The F-16 pilot then turned her attention to her wingman who was now calling for aid.

Lt. Tejamas had engaged in a tense dogfight of his own with Capt. Loba. He'd come within a breath of getting a missile lock at one point, but the younger greener Venezuelan pilot was not quite up to par for the older more experienced Colombian. Loba was eventually able to out maneuver him and escape his sight. The nearly panicked Tejamas quickly called to Perez, who had just dispatched Rendon's Kfir but was now a good distance away. Capt. Loba on the other had already received word of his downed comrade and just as he was about to maneuver onto Tejamas's 6 o'clock, he got orders from above to disengage and RTB (return to base) immediately. The Colombian reluctantly broke off his attack, headed West towards the border and kicked on his after burner.

Now rejoined, both F-16 pilots fired Aim-7s at the escaping Kfir, but again neither successfully tracked. They then received orders not to pursue and to maintain a patrol pattern in the area until the Su-30s (which were now minutes away) arrived to relive them. The fighting on the ground meanwhile, had already subsided.

Lt. Rendon parachuted into the wilderness of El Tama National Park, breaking his ankle in the process. Realizing there was no hope of escape in his condition, he used his emergency radio to broadcast his surrender and and approximate location to the Venezuelans. A unit of Bolivarian Army soldiers found and detained him within several hours. He would be released back to Colombia a few weeks later.

The incident should have ended right there, but then the two other Colombian Kfirs, piloted by Lieutenant Franco Herrera and 2nd Lieutenant Miguel Isidro, crossed the border and attempted to engage the two F-16s. Perez and Tejamas had already fired all of their Sparrow missiles and had thus lost their range advantage. They had no choice but to turn away from the Kfirs and attempt to flee. Under normal circumstances, Kfirs were only slightly faster than F-16s, but the two Venezuelan pilots could not afford to push their older spare parts lacking air frames to the limit for risk of literally tearing them apart. But Perez and Tejamas weren't stupid. They headed straight for the Su-30s, radioing in ahead to make sure they knew what was what, and the target fixated Colombians continued to follow.

“When I heard that Rendon had gone down, I felt an anger like I never have before. He was a good friend who I'd flown with for years and we had no idea what his condition was at that point. Command had already ordered Capt. Loba to retreat but had not yet rescinded the “engage F-16s if you see fit” order to me and Isidro. So we deciding to take the opportunity, thinking we could take out at least one of those Socialist Falcon flying bastards before the Su-30s could get to us. We were wrong.”
-Franco Herrera

Then, just as the Kfirs were coming within the maximum missile range of the F-16s, the Su-30 Flanker-Cs came within range of their own R-77-1 Adders. The particular variant of the Russian made Adder the Bolivarians used had a range of up to 110 kilometers (nearly 68 miles). Knowing this, the two F-16 pilots quickly jinked to the the right to give their comrades a clear shot.

At the controls of the lead Flanker was Venezuela's most senior active fighter pilot, Lt. Colonel Javier Lamas. The equally senior Major Carlos de Pablo was his backseat WSO. The number 2 in the flight was Captain Gregori Escalante and his backseater Captain Jose Almeida. De Pablo and Almeida each acquired a radar lock on one of the Kfirs, and Lamas and Escalante each then fired two R-77s at their respected target. Herrera and Isidro both took evasive action. Herrera had just barely managed to get off a Python at Lt. Perez right beforehand, but was far enough away that she was easily able to evade it.

Herrera was able to beat both of Lamas's missiles. Isidro was able to evade the first missile fired by Escalante but not the second, which impacted directly into his cockpit, killing him instantly. Thus marked the first ever air to air kill for the Russian R-77.

Knowing that the jig was up (and now getting panicked orders to RTB over the radio from his ground control), Herrera headed back West towards the border, hugging the deck near the outskirts of the city of San Cristobel to minimize his radar signature but reducing his speed significantly to avoid hitting buildings and hills. The Flankers lost him on their radar scopes, but his relief would only be temporary.

The Venezuelans had some formidable Russian made surface to air missile systems but only a limited amount of them. As a result they were mostly deployed around the capitol city of Caracas and more important inland military bases rather than along the border. Old Russian ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns had to be relied upon in most other cases, but they weren't designed to be used against supersonic jets. By chance, the two old truck mounted ZU-23s that shot at Herrera weren't even supposed to be there. They were on their way to the border when the crews got word of the Kfirs crossing into their immediate air space and decided set up right where they were. This turned out to be the correct decision, as the low and relatively slow Kfir passed almost directly into their sights. The unexpected heavy tracer fire forced Herrera to pull up sharply to avoid being hit, giving the Flankers another clean shot.

Lamas and his flight quickly reacquired a lock on Herrera, now just over twenty miles ahead of them. This time, all four Su-30s launched an R-77 to make sure the job was done. Too low to notch, the Kfir pilot had no choice by to kick in his afterburner and attempt to outrun the missiles but he was simply too close. Herrera's Kfir was practically severed in half by the missile hit and he had to eject. In a brilliant stroke of luck, he'd made it just close enough to the border that the wind was able to carry him and his parachute over into Colombian soil. It was never confirmed which of the four Su-30s whose missile made the impact, but the Venezuelan government officially credited Lt. Col. Lamas and Maj de Pablo for the kill, as they were the ranking officers.

The Falcon and Flanker pilots each returned to a hero's welcome at their respective bases. At El Libertador, what little Champagne that could be scrounged was popped in celebration. There was no champagne whatsoever at San Antonia del Tachira but the celebration was no less spirited.

The adrenaline was still pumping as we touched down at San Antonio. As soon as I powered down, all the mechanics surrounded my plane, cheering my name and singing the National Anthem. As I tried to climb down, I was suddenly grabbed and hoisted up into the air as they proceeded to parade me around the tarmac. I looked to my left and Tejamas was also getting the same treatment. The whole scene was quite surreal for me, even more so then the actual life or death dogfight I'd just been in. Next thing I hear, there's word that the pilot I shot down had survived. I felt a sense of relief that I hadn't been responsible for taking a life. Followed by a bit of shame as I realized I hadn't even thought about it until that moment.
-Ariana Perez

When it was all said and done, two Venezuelan soldiers, two Venezuelan policemen (during the initial drug raid), three Colombian soldiers, one Colombian airman and one Colombian civilian (hit by shrapnel in the crossfire) had been killed. Several more soldiers, policemen and civilians on both sides had been wounded and one Colombian airman captured.

President Carballo personally called both bases to congratulate the pilots. Two days later, a ceremony was held in Caracas, where the three Kfir killing pilots and as well as the two WSOs were awarded ribbon bars of the Order of the Liberators of Venezuela. These were the highest honors that could be bestowed upon Venezuelan servicemen. A bit overkill perhaps, but the Bolivarian government was determined to milk the whole ordeal for all it was worth. In addition, Javier Lamas would be promoted to full Colonel and Ariana Perez to Captain.

The Colombian government did everything it could to downplay the entire incident, but the death of Lt. Isidro and capture of Lt. Rendon made doing so nearly impossible. It would later be revealed that US President Michael Dorf had been secretly pressuring Colombian President Juan Enciso to ratchet up tensions any way he could with Venezuela. That had certainly been accomplished and all out war was now becoming visible on the horizon.

Regardless, the incident proved that the FANB were far more capable then than US media and the Dorf administration would have had one believe. Even the Venezuelan people as a whole began seeing their military in a much more positive light for the first time in a while. Recruitment rates increased considerably.

The current members of the Armed Forces were by far the most effected however. For the first time since the Gunpowder Age, they had faced off against the military forces of another country and despite suffering some losses they had effectively emerged as the victor. This resulted in a significant and much need boost in morale all around. Many historians agree that were it not for the Cucuta Incident, Venezuela would not have done anywhere near as well as it did in the war to come.

But that is a story for another day...