U.S. Seizes Maduro’s $13M Private Jet: What This Means for U.S.-Venezuela Relations

On Monday, CNN reported that the US government seized a private jet belonging to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The US Department of Justice announced confiscating a Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft that had been illegally exported to Venezuela. This aircraft, often called Venezuela’s Air Force One, has been spotted during Maduro’s state visits worldwide.

The aircraft had been in the Dominican Republic for maintenance over the past few months before being relocated to Florida. It was initially purchased through a Florida-based company illegally exported to Venezuela last April via the Caribbean.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland explained that the aircraft, valued at $13 million, was bought through a shell company in the US for the use of Maduro and his inner circle.

This action highlights the further deterioration of relations between the US and Venezuela. A US official emphasized that seizing a foreign head of state’s aircraft is unprecedented in criminal cases, signaling that no one is exempt from US sanctions.

In response, the Venezuelan government condemned the action as “piracy,” accusing the US of intensifying its attacks against the Venezuelan government following the July elections.

The US government is pressuring the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) to immediately provide vote count data after officially recognizing Maduro’s re-election for his third term on July 28.

Earlier this year, the US imposed additional sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas sector due to the lack of fair and competitive elections under Maduro’s government.

In March 2020, the US Department of Justice charged 14 current and former Venezuelan officials, including President Nicolás Maduro, with drug-related crimes and corruption. Then-Attorney General William Barr announced, “Maduro and several high-ranking associates are accused of conspiring with the Colombian guerrilla group FARC for over 20 years to flood US communities with massive amounts of cocaine.”

The US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs offers up to $15 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest or conviction.

In a related case, Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, had two nephews sentenced to 18 years in federal prison in New York City for attempting to smuggle 800 kilograms of cocaine into the US in 2017. The two were later released in a prisoner exchange in 2022.

The ongoing turmoil within the Venezuelan regime is influencing US politics, with millions of Venezuelans fleeing the country, many of whom are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.