According to US officials, Nicolás Maduro’s plane was illegally purchased for $13 million (£9.8 million) and smuggled out of the nation.
The Falcon 900EX aircraft was taken into custody in the Dominican Republic and then moved to the US state of Florida, as stated by the US Department of Justice.
How and when the aircraft arrived in the Dominican Republic are unknown. According to tracking data, it departed from La Isabela airport, which is close to Santo Domingo’s capital, on Monday and arrived at Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida shortly after.
“US takes possession of The aircraft of Venezuelan President Maduro”
Venezuela has condemned the seizure, claiming that it was equivalent to “piracy.”The US has justified itself, according to Foreign Minister Yván Gil, “with the coercive measures that they unilaterally and illegally impose around the world.”
“Reserves the right to take any legal action to repair this damage to the nation,” the Venezuelan government said in a statement.According to US officials, US export control and sanctions laws are suspected of having been broken by the plane’s seizure.
They continued by saying that an investigation revealed that individuals connected to Mr. Maduro had allegedly concealed their involvement in the plane’s unlawful purchase from a Florida-based company in late 2022 and early 2023 by using a shell company with operations in the Caribbean.
In April 2023, the aircraft was then forcibly exported from the United States to Venezuela via the Caribbean.
President Maduro, who has frequently accused the US of interfering in his nation’s internal affairs, is unlikely to give much credence to the US officials’ claim that the plane’s sale and export violated US sanctions.The move was described as “an important step to ensure that Maduro continues to feel the consequences from his misgovernance of Venezuela” by a spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
The US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Markenzy Lapointe, stated that the authorities in the Dominican Republic provided the US government with “invaluable assistance” in organising the seizure.
One of the federal agencies involved in the effort to recover the plane, Matthew S. Axelrod from the Department of Commerce, stated, “It doesn’t matter how fancy the private jet or how powerful the officials – we will work relentlessly with our partners here and across the globe to identify and return any aircraft illegally smuggled outside of the United States.”
Based on information from the Flightradar24 website, the aircraft appeared to have been flown to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, after landing in Kingston, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, in April 2023.After that, it flew “almost exclusively to and from a military base in Venezuela,” according to US officials. How and when the aircraft landed in the Dominican Republic are unknown.
However, US officials claimed that Mr. Maduro had utilised the aircraft “on visits to other countries.”
Following Mr. Maduro’s contentious reelection, the Venezuelan government declared in late July that it was temporarily suspending commercial flights to both the Dominican Republic and Panama.According to polling data released by the opposition in Venezuela, Edmundo González, their candidate for unity, emerged victorious. However, an electoral council that supports Mr. Maduro has refused to acknowledge his victory.Without seeing the results of the July election, the European Union has refused to acknowledge Maduro as the victor of the reelection.A number of Latin American nations have also withdrawn their support, with President Lula of Brazil—a former ally of Mr. Maduro—among those demanding complete transparency from the Venezuelan government.
The United States has acknowledged Mr. González as the victor, citing “overwhelming” evidence of Maduro’s defeat.US federal authorities have previously targeted Mr. Maduro and the Venezuelan government for alleged corruption.
The Department of Justice brought charges against Mr. Maduro and fourteen other Venezuelan officials in 2020, alleging drug trafficking, corruption, and narco-terrorism.Up to $15 million in rewards are being offered by the state department for information that results in Mr. Maduro’s apprehension or conviction.
(BBC)
