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US seizes Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s plane citing sanctions violations

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US seizes Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s plane citing sanctions violations

Matt Spetalnick and Jasper Ward
 |  Reuters

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WASHINGTON, DC — The United States has seized a plane used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and flown it from the Dominican Republic to Florida after determining that its purchase violated U.S. sanctions, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday.

The seizure of the aircraft came amid continuing pressure on Maduro at home and abroad over a contested July 28 election that he claimed to have won, while the opposition said its vote tallies showed its candidate to have soundly defeated him.

Maduro, his associates and the OPEC member-state’s vital oil sector are under heavy U.S. sanctions, and his handling of the election has raised the prospects that further measures could be imposed.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that the Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the U.S. “for use by Nicolás Maduro and his cronies.”

“Let this seizure send a clear message: aircraft illegally acquired from the United States for the benefit of sanctioned Venezuelan officials cannot just fly off into the sunset,” said Matthew Axelrod, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement.

U.S. officials said the seizure, which was first reported by CNN, was carried out working closely with the Dominican Republic.

The Venezuelan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The White House Security Council cast the seizure as an important step to ensure Maduro feels consequences after a wide range of sources found he and his representatives tampered with the election, falsely claimed victory and carried out repression to maintain power.

A Justice Department investigation showed that in late 2022 and early 2023 people affiliated with Maduro allegedly used a Caribbean-based shell company to conceal involvement in the purchase of the Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft.

The plane was then illegally exported from the United States to Venezuela through the Caribbean last year and since then has flown to and from a Venezuelan military base and been used “for the benefit of Maduro and his representatives, including to transport Maduro on visits to other countries,” the Justice Department said.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Jasper Ward; editing by Ross Colvin and Sandra Maler)

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