https://www.theinteldrop.org/2024/09...ros-plane-cnn/
After Failed CIA Coup, US seizes Maduro’s plane – CNN[/B]
by INTEL-DROPSeptember 2, 2024
The jet was allegedly used by President Nicolas Maduro
The US government has confiscated an airplane reportedly used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for allegedly violating Washington’s sanctions against Caracas, CNN reported on Monday.
The US has charged Maduro with drug trafficking and refused to recognize his victory in the last two Venezuelan presidential elections.
“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,” an unnamed Washington official told CNN, which first reported the story on Monday.
According to CNN, the plane is worth around $13 million and was seized in cooperation with the Dominican authorities.
The US outlet did not identify the airplane, saying only it was seized in the Dominican Republic and flown to Miami, Florida. The departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, and Justice were involved in the seizure.
The Miami Herald identified the jet as a Dassault Falcon 900EX, a French-built corporate jet that has previously visited Cuba, Brazil and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, “often with Maduro on board.” It appears to be registered in San Marino, a small landlocked country in Europe.
Read more
EU rejects Nicolas Maduro’s ‘democratic legitimacy’ – top diplomat
The Herald cited records from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) showing that a Florida-based company sold the plane to a company in St. Vincent, which then resold it to San Marino. The US government alleges that the reseller was a Venezuelan shell company and that the sale violated its sanctions on Venezuela.
American officials described the jet as Venezuela’s equivalent of the US “Air Force One,” noting that Maduro has flown it to a number of places. It was unclear how it ended up in the Dominican Republic, as Venezuela suspended commercial air travel with the island after the July 28 presidential election.
According to CNN, the US intends to confiscate the plane through asset forfeiture process. This means Venezuela could theoretically challenge it in court – if it can find a way around the sanctions to do so.
This is the second Venezuelan jet to be seized by the US this year. In February, Argentina sent over a Boeing 747-300M cargo plane confiscated in 2022, because Caracas allegedly bought it from a sanctioned Iranian company. Maduro called the seizure “a blatant theft” on part of Argentinian President Javier Milei’s government.
Washington has seized $2 billion worth of Venezuelan bank accounts and assets in recent years, one unnamed official told CNN.
https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1830722879429759013
🚨 Venezuela Foreign Ministry: "Once again, the authorities of the USA, in a recurrent criminal practice that cannot be qualified as anything other than piracy, have illegally confiscated an aircraft that has been used by the President of the Republic, justifying itself in the coercive measures that it unilaterally and illegally imposes around the world.
This action reveals that no State and no constitutional government is safe from illegal actions that disregard international law.
The United States has already demonstrated that it uses its economic and military power to intimidate and pressure States such as the Dominican Republic to serve as accomplices in its criminal acts.
This is an example of the so-called 'rules-based order', which, disregarding international law, seeks to establish the law of the strongest, creating rules that suit its interests and executing them with total impunity."
Re: BREAKING NEWS ~ Continuously Updated
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks