The U.S. has seized Venezuelan President Maduro's plane

The United States has seized an airplane belonging to Venezuela’s hard-line president, Nicolás Maduro, in the Dominican Republic, the Justice Department said Monday.

The Justice Department alleges that the Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft was purchased from a company in Florida for about $13 million by people affiliated with Maduro who used a Caribbean-based shell company and smuggled it out of the United States for use by Maduro and his associates, in violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls.

The Justice Department said it worked with the Dominican Republic to seize the plane and transfer it to Florida.

The U.S. has placed numerous sanctions on Venezuelan companies and individuals, including Maduro, for alleged corruption and human rights abuses among other things.

The plane confiscation came a little over a month after Venezuela’s contentious presidential election, in which both Maduro and the main opposition declared victory.

Speaking Aug. 1, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was “overwhelming evidence” that opposition candidate “Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election.”

Last week, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said Maduro will remain the South American country’s de facto president but that the EU rejects the legitimacy of his reelection claim.

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