USA plan to seize the Venezuelan presidential aircraft held in Dominican Republic during Rubio -Visits

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (AP) – Trump administration plans to seize another aircraft belonging to the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ‘s government, currently in the Dominican Republic.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio intends to announce the attack on Thursday during a visit to Santo Domingo, the last stop in his five-nation tour of Latin America, according to a US official who is familiar with the case and a state defense document obtained by Associated Press.

Performing the seizure required that Rubio logging on a request for foreign assistance freeze waste request to pay more than $ 230,000 in stock and maintenance fees. It also required approval by the US Ministry of Justice.

This request for exception that was submitted early last week is approved and Rubio is expected to make the message to what the Ministry of State has described publicly as a “law enforcement engagement.”

The aircraft is a Dassault Falcon 200 that has been used by Maduro and Top Aids, including his Vice President and Defense Minister, to travel the world, including visits to Greece, Turkey, Russia and Cuba, in what Washngton says are offenses of US sanctions according to The document.

The seizure of the aircraft comes only a week after President Donald Trump’s envoy to special missions, Richard Grenell, visited Caracas And met with Maduro to discuss the return of Venezuelan citizens who illegally entered the United States. Grenell returned with six Americans detained in Venezuela.

US seized another of Maduro’s aircraft from the Dominican Republic In September 2024.

At the time, the US Ministry of Justice said that Maduro Associates in late 2022 and early 2023 used a Caribbean-based Shell company to hide their commitment to the purchase of the aircraft-one Dassault Falcon 900EX worth a value of $ 13 million-from a company in Florida.

Related to Rubio’s first stop on his turnthe US Department of State said late Wednesday on X that the Panamans had agreed to allow us warships the opportunity to transit the Panama channel free of charge.

But Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino later denied thatsaid on Thursday that he had told US defense secretary Pete Hegeth one day earlier that he could not set the fees to transit the channel or exempt anyone to them, and that he was surprised by the US state department’s statement that suggested anything else.

The department had no immediate comment Thursday.

The fees had been a focus of President Donald Trump’s complaints about the channel, which he has threatened to re -enter from Panama, unless Panama severely limits the Chinese influence in the area.

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Associated Press writer Alma Solís in Panama City contributed to this report.