WASHINGTON, CMC – The United States Monday confirmed that it had seized a plane belonging to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that had been flown to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, after arriving in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in April 2023.
Kingstown has so far made no official comment on the data regarding the plane held by the Flightradar24 website.
But Washington said it had seized the aircraft, claiming it had been bought illegally for US$13 million.
According to the US Justice Department, the Falcon 900EX aircraft was seized in the Dominican Republic and transferred to the US state of Florida.
Tracking data showed the plane leaving La Isabela airport near the capital, Santo Domingo, on Monday and arriving at Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida soon after.
Maduro has made no public comment on the US move, which came after Washington alleged that the plane was seized for suspected violations of US export control and sanctions laws.
Washington said further that an investigation found that people affiliated with Maduro had allegedly used a Caribbean-based shell company to hide their involvement in the plane’s illegal purchase from a company based in Florida in late 2022 and early 2023.
The aircraft was then illegally exported from the United States to Venezuela through the Caribbean in April 2023.
A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said the action represented “an important step to ensure that Maduro continues to feel the consequences from his misgovernance of Venezuela.”
Washington, as well as many Western countries, have refused to accept the results of the July 28 presidential election, even after Venezuela’s Supreme Justice Tribunal ratified Maduro’s victory.
The Court president, Caryslia Rodriguez, said the supreme tribunal had reviewed material from the electoral authority and agreed that Maduro won the election, adding that the decision cannot be appealed.
The opposition in Caracas has published online what it says are 83 percent of voting machine tallies, which give its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez a hearty 6 percent support.
Meanwhile, Markenzy Lapointe, US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said the Dominican Republic authorities had given the US government “invaluable assistance” in organizing the seizure.
“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,” said Matthew S Axelrod from the department of commerce – one of the federal agencies involved in the operation to recover the plane.
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