US seizes Venezuela government plane in Dominican Republic on Rubio visit

Dominican Republic detained aircraft last year after US authorities said it had violated US sanctions against Venezuela

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, listens to Edwin F Lopez, of DHS Homeland Security Investigations, second from left, next to the Venezuelan government plane that Rubio said is being seized by the US, at La Isabela International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Thursday. Photo: AP

Published: 5:44am, 7 Feb 2025

The United States on Thursday seized a second aircraft belonging to the Venezuelan government in less than a year during a visit to the Dominican Republic by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, despite nascent diplomacy with leftist leader Nicolas Maduro.

Rubio travelled to a military airstrip in the capital Santo Domingo where, in front of cameras, a Dominican Republic prosecutor and US police representative together taped a sign that said “seized” on a Dassault Falcon 200 jet bearing a Venezuelan flag.

Dominican Republic authorities detained the aircraft last year after US authorities said it had violated unilateral US sanctions against Venezuela.

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

Maduro’s oil minister also used the plane to attend a meeting of the Opec oil cartel in the United Arab Emirates in 2019, according to the Treasury Department.

In September, the United States, then led by president Joe Biden, announced the seizure of another Venezuelan government plane in the Dominican Republic that had been used to transport Maduro on international trips.