US seizes airplane owned by Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro for violating sanctions

FLORIDA: The US government seized an airplane owned by Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro on Monday (local time), and brought it to Florida because it was bought ‘in violation of US sanctions’, the New York Times reported citing US Justice Department.

The Biden administration is trying to put more pressure on Maduro over his alleged attempts to undermine the results of the recent presidential election, White House officials said.

The Justice Department said in its statement that it had seized a Dassault Falcon 900EX owned and operated by Maduro and his partners after it had been brought to the Dominican Republic for maintenance work. The department then had the plane flown to Florida. The plane had been purchased in the United States for $13 million through a shell company and ‘smuggled’ out of the country ‘for use by Nicolas Maduro and his cronies’, Merrick B Garland, the US attorney general, said in the statement.

According to a US official, the Homeland Security Department helped the Justice Department lead the operation, and the Commerce Department was involved as well, the NYT reported.

“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”, Matthew S Axelrod, the assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department, said in a written statement.

Notably, the Biden administration has accused Maduro of trying to illegally stay in power by rejecting evidence that his opponent defeated him in Venezuela’s presidential election on July 28. On August 1, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US was recognizing the opponent, Edmundo Gonzalez, as the winner.

“We congratulate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia on his successful campaign”, Blinken said in a statement. “Now is the time for the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a respectful, peaceful transition in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law.”

Meanwhile, a Venezuelan court on Monday issued an arrest warrant for Gonzalez. The warrant, which was issued by a court that deals with “crimes associated with terrorism,” accused him of conspiracy, usurping power, and sabotage, among other things, the New York Times reported.

On the other hand, Maduro has long accused the US of unfairly exercising imperial power around the globe, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, and he has criticized the Biden administration’s response to the election result as another example of it.

Being asked about the airplane seizure, an official from the White House National Security Council released a statement that pointed to Maduro’s ‘questionable’ claim of victory in the election.

“Last week, one of Venezuela’s own National Electoral Council rectors further validated that Maduro has provided no evidence that he won this election”, the White House statement said. “The United States, in coordination with our partners, is working to ensure that the will of the Venezuelan people, as expressed through the July 28 election, is respected.”

According to the Justice Department, US investigators had discovered that people tied to Maduro in late 2022 and early 2023 had used a Caribbean-based shell company to buy the airplane from a company in Florida. The plane was then illegally exported to Venezuela through the Caribbean in April 2023, the department said, adding that since May 2023, the aircraft, which has the tail number T7-ESPRT, had been flown almost solely to and from a military base in Venezuela.

It has also been used to transport Maduro to and from other nations, the department said. The agency also thanked the Dominican Republic for helping with the operation.

An official in the Dominican Republic said the two governments had cooperated to seize the airplane in May at the Dr Joaquin Balaguer International Airport, also known as La Isabela International Airport.

Officials in Venezuela had brought the plane to the Dominican Republic for maintenance work, the official said. The United States made a request for its seizure through judicial channels, and the Dominican authorities complied, said the official.

The Justice Department said that the sale and export of the plane violated an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in 2019 that restricted trade between the US and Venezuela and that it violated export controls set by the Commerce Department, NYT reported. (ANI)