The US seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's plane in the Dominican Republic after determining that its purchase violated US sanctions, CNN reported . President Maduro was not using the plane when it was seized. Washington flew the plane to Florida on September 2, according to two US officials.
It is the latest development in long-standing frosty relations between the United States and Venezuela, and the seizure of the aircraft marks an escalation as the United States continues to investigate what it sees as corruption by the Venezuelan government.
Officials described the plane as Venezuela's equivalent of Air Force One and it has been used on previous state visits by President Maduro around the world.
“The seizure of a foreign head of state’s aircraft is an unprecedented criminal matter,” a US official told CNN. “We are sending a clear message here that no one is above the law, no one is beyond the reach of US sanctions.”
“The Department of Justice seized the aircraft, which we allege was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States for use by Nicolas Maduro and his cronies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
The Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft was purchased from a Florida company and illegally exported from the United States to Venezuela via the Caribbean in April 2023. The plane was used for President Maduro’s international travel and “almost exclusively to and from a military base in Venezuela,” the Justice Department said.
Records show the last registered flight was in March, from Caracas to the Dominican Republic's capital Santo Domingo.
The Venezuelan government described the seizure as “robbery” in a statement on September 2 and accused Washington of escalating tensions with Mr. Maduro’s government after the presidential election in July.
The United States has recently pressured the Venezuelan government to “immediately” release specific data related to the presidential election, citing concerns about the credibility of Mr. Maduro’s claimed victory.
Earlier this year, the US reimposed sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry in response to the Maduro government's "failure to hold inclusive and competitive elections".
In March 2020, the US Department of Justice charged President Nicolas Maduro , along with 14 current and former Venezuelan officials, with narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and corruption.
