US Seizes Plane Belonging to Venezuelan President Maduro in Dominican Republic

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens to Edwin F. Lopez, the attache for DHS Homeland Security Investigations, next to the Venezuelan government airplane that Rubio announced is being seized by the United States, during a news conference at La Isabela International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Feb. 6, 2025. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via Reuters

The United States on Thursday seized a plane belonging to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime that is currently in the Dominican Republic, the Justice Department (DOJ) announced.

The aircraft, a Dassault Falcon 2000EX, was used by Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), the sanctioned Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company.

It was seized based on violations of U.S. export control and sanctions laws, according to the DOJ.

The department said an investigation showed that the company bought the plane in the United States in 2017 and exported it to Venezuela, where it was serviced and maintained multiple times using U.S. parts despite the imposition of sanctions on PdVSA.

“The use of American-made parts to service and maintain aircraft operated by sanctioned entities like PdVSA is intolerable,” said Devin DeBacker, head of the DOJ’s National Security Division.

DeBacker touted the DOJ’s work to safeguard national security by “identifying, disrupting, and dismantling schemes aimed at procuring American goods in violation of our sanctions and export control laws.”

Petroleos de Venezuela, or Petroleum of Venezuela in English, was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2019.

At the time, the department said the company had long been used as a “vehicle for corruption” by Venezuelan officials and that various schemes had been devised to embezzle billions of dollars for the personal gain of corrupt officials and businessmen.

That included a 2014 currency exchange scheme to embezzle and launder around $600 million from PdVSA, money the department said was obtained through bribery and fraud.

The sanctions against the oil company prohibited most U.S. businesses from engaging in transactions with it, and its accounts and property in the United States were blocked.

Seizure Sends Clear Message Sanctions ‘Have Teeth’

Speaking on Thursday, Acting Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Kevin J. Kurland of the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said the seizure of the aircraft this week sends a “clear message” that sanctions and export control laws “have teeth.”

“BIS will continue to aggressively investigate and hold accountable those who violate our regulations,” Kurland said.

The latest seizure marks the second time an aircraft belonging to the Maduro regime has been apprehended by the U.S. government in less than 12 months.

In September 2024, the Biden administration announced it had taken possession of another of Maduro’s planes from the Dominican Republic that had been used to transport him on international trips.

At the time, the DOJ said Maduro’s associates used a Caribbean-based shell company in late 2022 and early 2023 to conceal their involvement in purchasing the plane—a Dassault Falcon 900EX valued at $13 million—from a company in Florida.

The seizures occurred as Maduro’s victory in Venezuela’s July 2024 election has been widely contested by the opposition and Washington.

A "seized" sign is placed on a Venezuelan government airplane during a press conference where U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced its seizure at La Isabela International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Feb. 6, 2025. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via Reuters

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in Santo Domingo as part of his five-nation tour of Latin America, oversaw Thursday’s seizure of the Dassault Falcon 2000EX.

Speaking to local broadcaster SIN News, Rubio said the Trump administration would likely impose and reinforce further sanctions against Venezuelan companies linked to Maduro in the future.

Rubio added that the U.S. government would like to see “democratic progress” and the “return of stability” in Venezuela, as well as in Nicaragua and Cuba, which he referred to earlier this week as the “enemies of humanity” that have created a migration crisis in the region.

“That would be ideal,” Rubio said of the three nations. “Unfortunately, these countries are currently under the control of regimes that do not want that and do not allow that and have created instability in the government.”