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An “intelligence” airplane reportedly belonging to the US Coast Guard has violated Venezuela’s airspace, its Defense Minister said on Sunday.

“Forty-eight hours ago an intelligence plane of US Coast Guard raided Venezuelan region,” Minister of Defense for the National Armed Forces of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Vladimir Padrino Lopez told the local media.

The incident took place in the south of the country, the official said, without specifying the details.

“It is quite unusual for this type of aircraft to approach our area,” the minister added.

Lopez informed Caracas’s foreign ministry about the incident, so that it can decide how to proceed diplomatically.

Relations between the two countries have been deteriorating since the late 1990s, when late Hugo Chavez was elected Venezuela’s president. The US has recently imposed sanctions against Caracas’s senior officials, following allegations that anti-government protesters have been abused. Although the recent US-Cuba talks reportedly inspired the states to begin negotiations aimed at improving relations, the efforts seem to have brought about few positive results.