Venezuela calls us the seizure of the government aircraft “Brazen theft”

Venezuela has accused the United States of Small Theft after seizing one of its government planes in the Dominican Republic.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio runs the seizure of the aircraft on Thursday – the second Venezuelan plane that the United States has confiscated in the Caribbean for less than a year.

US authorities have said there are legal grounds for seizure, “based on US sanctions violations, export control and money laundering.” The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry called Rubio a “plane thief”.

The United States has long imposed a variety of sanctions on Venezuela in response to what it describes as crime, corruption and repression under the leader of the South American nation, Nicolas Maduro.

Just recently, it Put financial sanctions on a number of Venezuelan employees In response to the result of the presidential election last year, in which Maduro re -elected. The United States, among others, has disputed the official results that the opposition is said to have been proven in favor of Maduro.

Rubio, a key figure in the new Trump administration, controls the confiscation of the Dassault Falcon 200 aircraft when visiting a military airport in the Dominican capital Santo Domingo, at the last stop of his tour in Latin America.

He told reporters on Thursday: “The message is that when there are sanctions because they violate human rights, they violate a whole series of things traveling to Iran, helping countries that really want harm to the United States.

“These sanctions will be applied and enhanced.”

Authorities of the Dominican Republic detained the plane last year after the United States said they had violated the unilateral sanctions of the United States against Venezuela.

The Venezuelan officials had used the aircraft to fly to Greece, Turkey, Russia, Nicaragua and Cuba, and took it to the Dominican Republic for maintenance, according to the US State Department.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said “will” take all the necessary actions to deny this theft and to request the immediate return of its aircraft. “

In September, the United States, then, under President Joe Biden, seized the first Venezuelan plane in the Dominican Republic, which was used to transport President Maduro on international trips.