The United States seized a plane owned by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the Dominican Republic on Monday after finding that its purchase violated U.S. sanctions and export controls.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) flew Maduro’s $13 million version of "Air Force One” back to the U.S., landing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as the U.S. government investigates what it calls “corrupt practices” committed by Venezuela. U.S. authorities cited a violation of Executive Order 13884, which former President Donald Trump signed in 2019. The order prohibits any U.S. citizen from engaging in transactions with someone who has purported to act directly or indirectly for or on behalf of the government of Venezuela.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the plane was illegally purchased “through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States for use by Nicolás Maduro and his cronies.”
According to U.S. officials, Maduro’s Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft was purchased through a Florida company and illegally exported in April 2023 from America to Venezuela through the Caribbean. The plane has been used “almost exclusively to and from a military base in Venezuela.”
“The Department will continue to pursue those who violate our sanctions and export controls to prevent them from using American resources to undermine the national security of the United States,” Garland’s statement continued.
The seizure comes at a time when the U.S. is attempting to put pressure on Venezuela after a controversial election claimed Maduro had won. At the same time, the opposing party’s vote tallies indicate its candidate had actually defeated Maduro.
U.S. officials are using the seizure of Maduro’s aircraft to warn other countries that it “cannot just fly off into the sunset.”
“It doesn’t matter how fancy the private jet or how powerful the officials – we will work relentlessly with our partners here and across the globe to identify and return any aircraft illegally smuggled outside of the United States,” Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod, of the Department of Commerce, said.
Millions have fled the communist country, making their way to the US-Mexico border. According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Venezuelans illegally living in the U.S. surpassed Mexicans for the first time on record last year. During FY 2023, 335,000 illegal Venezuelan immigrants crossed the southern border. However, only 834 have been deported by the Biden-Harris Administration.