Secretary of State Marco Rubio flew into the Dominican Republic and flew out with Maduro’s private jet. Venezuela’s alleged president thought he could stash it there and get away with it. He was wrong. This is the second plane seized by the U.S. because Joe Biden snagged one before.
Maduro loses his jet
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro thought the Dominican Republic would be a safe place to stash his private jet.
One small island is divided into two countries, the other one is Haiti. Both are as politically unstable as nitroglycerin. Maduro’s plane belongs to Uncle Sam now and there’s nothing he can do about it.
Reports of the jet confiscation broke ahead of Marco Rubio’s arrival. The Secretary of State is spending Thursday, February 6, in Santo Domingo. That’s the last stop of his Latin American tour. Most countries were friendly and welcoming. Not Panama. They were frightened and angry.
By the time he left, they backed out of a big trade deal with China and agreed to audit the canal books. They also left Rubio with the impression they were making use of the canal free to the U.S. military. They walked that talking point back after he was gone.
According to a State Department source, the seizure of Maduro’s personal jet, a Dassault Falcon 200, was already a done deal and Rubio planned the announcement for his visit to the Dominican Republic. It wasn’t a simple thing to arrange.
Apparently, Maduro is way behind on paying his hanger fees. Last week he had a meeting with President Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell. When America’s James Bond left Venezuela, six U.S. citizens who had been rotting in a Venezuelan jail flew home with him.
Need a waiver
In order to break loose the Venezuelan dictator’s jet, Secretary Rubio had to get special approval.
“Carrying out the seizure required that Rubio sign off on a foreign aid freeze waiver request to pay more than $230,000 in storage and maintenance fees.” He also needed someone at the DOJ to sign off on it.
Rubio submitted the request before he left Miami. It was easily and quickly approved. The State Department is proud to announce the “law enforcement engagement.” Seizing Maduro’s jet adds an asset worth around $13 million dollars to the U.S. transportation fleet.
Venezuela used “a Caribbean-based shell company to hide their involvement in the purchase of the plane.” That shell’s been cracked wide open.
Maduro and his top aides, “including his vice president and defense minister” used the jet “to travel the world, including Greece, Turkey, Russia and Cuba, in what the administration says are violations of U.S. sanctions.”
While the pain of losing another expensive jet really stings, Maduro is breathing a heavy sigh of relief that Ric Grenell doesn’t carry a license to kill. The illegitimate leader of Venezuela has a U.S. bounty on his head.
