Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Deputy Cilia Flores, leaving the jet Dassault Falcon 900EX belonging to the Venezuelan government fleet. Photo: RedRadioVE/file photo.
The United States government seized a Venezuelan plane in the Dominican Republic, alleging that it violated the unilateral coercive measures imposed against Venezuela by the US.
According to various media outlets, two sources revealed that US authorities took the Venezuelan plane to the city of Florida on Monday. The hijacked plane is a Dassault Falcon 900EX with registration number T7-ESPERT from San Marino.
The US Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Commerce, the Bureau of Industry and Security, and the Department of Justice participated in the plane’s seizure. The seizure was reported by mainstream media outlets, which also reported that the plane was the presidential plane, the equivalent to the US Air Force One. In reality, the plane is used primarily by Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez.
The Venezuelan presidential plane is a modified version of the Airbus A319CJ, currently registered as YV-2984 and with Conviasa branding. Experts say that since the illegal US sanctions in 2019, the Venezuelan presidential plane was changed from its original registration of 0001 with the Bolivarian Military Aviation, to the current configuration.
This new US aggression marks the second theft of a Venezuelan aircraft in the last two years. In June 2022, in collaboration with the Argentinian government, Washington seized a Boeing 747-300 belonging to Conviasa’s subsidiary EMTRASUR Cargo company.
The government of Javier Milei handed the plane over to the United States on February 12 of this year. Several days later, it appeared stripped at an airport in Florida, United States, where the rear part of the plane was dismantled and cut into three parts, leaving it inoperative.
Venezuela initiated legal measures, and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) accepted the complaint against Argentina for its violation of international law.
The EMTRASUR plane was grounded by Alberto Fernández’s government at the Ezeiza International Airport, located in Buenos Aires, due to alleged irregularities and unfounded claims of terrorism promoted by Zionist groups in Argentina.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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