The US seized an aircraft owned by proclaimed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday after the Dominican Republic seized and transferred it to the Southern District of Florida in accordance with export controls and sanctions law.
The aircraft in question has been identified as a Dassault Falcon 900EX, valued at §13 million at the time of the purchase. According to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland the plane “was illegally purchased […] through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States for use by Nicolás Maduro and his cronies.” Former President Donald Trump has previously introduced and signed Executive Order 13884, prohibiting the transfer of property in the US to the governmental agents of Venezuela.
The US Department of Commerce’s Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod stated, “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.”
The seizure of the plane occurred four days after Venezuelan diplomats met with members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) to condemn US economic sanctions as violations of human rights. Venezuelan ambassador to Bolivia César Trómpiz accused the US of imposing aggressive economic sanctions against Venezuela to control the world’s largest oil reserve and to counteract the growing power of the BRICS alliance between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
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