Second Chinese Spy Balloon Spotted Over Latin America

 A second Chinese spy balloon has been seen flying over Latin America, the Pentagon announced Friday night. 

“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, told Fox News. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon.”

The news comes a day after the Pentagon announced that a separate Chinese spy balloon was flying over U.S. airspace. 

“The United States Government has detected and is tracking a high altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now,” Ryder said in a statement. “The U.S. government, to include NORAD, continues to track and monitor it closely. The balloon is currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”

“Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years,” Ryder added. “Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.”

On Friday, Ryder confirmed that the balloon is a spy balloon and that it is maneuverable. 

“We know that it’s a surveillance balloon, and I’m not going to be able to be more specific than that.  And we do know that the balloon has violated U.S. airspace and international law, which is unacceptable.  And so we’ve conveyed this directly to [China] at multiple levels,” Ryder said. “We know this is a Chinese balloon and that it has the ability to maneuver.”