The US Department of Justice announced that they seized the plane used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in the Dominican Republic on the grounds that it violated sanctions.
In a written statement made by the US Department of Justice, it was stated that the plane Maduro usually uses for foreign travels was seized. The ministry argued that the aircraft was purchased through a shell company and taken out of the US and that it violated the sanctions imposed on Venezuela.
The seizure of the plane, which Maduro is said to have used as a ‘presidential plane’, in the Dominican Republic is expected to bring a new burden to the relations between the US and Venezuela, which have been strained since the elections.
According to the results announced on 29 July in Venezuela, Maduro won the presidential election for the third time with 51.20 per cent of the vote. Opposition coalition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado rejected the election results.
The US administration, on the other hand, claimed that the election results were not announced transparently and argued that the results did not reflect the will of the people.
