Wednesday, 12 March 2025

JUST IN: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s Airplane Seized By United States

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The United States government has seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s airplane in the Dominican Republic and flew it to Florida.

The U.S. Justice Department said its purchase violated U.S. sanctions, Reuters reports.

WATCH:

Per CNN:

The plane has been described by officials as Venezuela’s equivalent to Air Force One and it has been pictured in previous state visits by Maduro around the world.

“This sends a message all the way up to the top,” one of the US officials told CNN. “Seizing the foreign head of state’s plane is unheard-of for criminal matters. We’re sending a clear message here that no one is above the law, no one is above the reach of US sanctions.”

In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that “the Justice Department seized an aircraft we allege was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States for use by Nicolás Maduro and his cronies.”

The plane was purchased from a company in Florida, the Justice Department said, and was illegally exported in April 2023 from the United States to Venezuela through the Caribbean.

“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, according to Reuters. 

WATCH:

Reuters reports:

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.

“This is an important step to ensure that Maduro continues to feel the consequences from his misgovernance of Venezuela,” said a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council.


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