The US claimed that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had broken US sanctions when it intercepted his aircraft in the Dominican Republic on Monday and flew it to Florida.
United States officials moved to take the aircraft, a Dassault Falcon 900EX private jet used by Maduro and members of his government, with the Justice Department saying the plane was “illegally purchased.”
“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 Nicolas Maduro and his cronies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Aircraft tracking site Flightradar24 showed that the jet flew from Santo Domingo to Fort Lauderdale on Monday morning. The US says that in late 2022 and early 2023, individuals affiliated with Maduro allegedly used a Caribbean-based shell company to conceal their involvement in the illegal purchase of the jet.
The aircraft was then illegally exported from the United States to Venezuela through the Caribbean in April 2023.
Since May 2023, the plane has flown almost exclusively to and from a military base in Venezuela.
Anthony Salisbury, special agent in charge at the Homeland Security Investigations Miami office, said “this plane was predominantly utilized by Nicolas Maduro on numerous state visits.”
The South American country was rocked by protests when Maduro was declared the winner of a disputed July 28 election, with dozens killed and more than 2,400 people arrested.
The opposition claims it won by a landslide and that it has the voting records to prove it. The leftist Maduro government, brushing off accusations of authoritarianism, has resisted international pressure to release vote tally numbers to back up its claim of victory.
“Maduro and his representatives’ have tampered with the results of the July 28 presidential election, falsely claimed victory, and carried out wide-spread repression to maintain power by force,” a US National Security Council spokesperson said.
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