The US decision to seize a plane used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is blatant “piracy,” the South American country’s foreign minister, Ivan Gil Pinto, has said.
On Monday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed media reports that its agents had seized a Dassault Falcon 900EX Aircraft allegedly linked to the Venezuelan leader and his inner circle.
Washington claimed that the aircraft “was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States,” adding that it was seized in the Dominican Republic and transferred to Florida by US request “based on violations of… export control and sanctions laws.”
The DOJ alleged that the plane was bought through a Caribbean-based company and delivered to Venezuela in April 2023. Since then, it has been used by the Maduro government, including to transport the Venezuelan leader himself to other countries, the department claimed. Ivan Gil denounced the move as “a repeated criminal practice that cannot be described as anything other than piracy.” The US, he added, “illegally confiscated an aircraft that has been used by the president of the republic, justifying themselves with the coercive measures that they unilaterally and illegally impose around the world.”
Maduro’s government also warned that it “reserves the right to take any legal action to repair this damage to the nation, as well as all other damages caused by the criminal policy” of Washington.
