St Vincent PM Gonsalves trying to get facts on Maduro's plane

St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves says he is trying to get information on a plane belonging to Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro which was seized by the US Department of Homeland Security.

US attorney general Merrick Garland confirmed in a statement on September 2 that the plane had been seized in the Dominican Republic.

The US government said the plane was bought through a shell company in the Caribbean for Maduro’s use, in violation of sanctions and export control laws.

The US government also claimed the plane had been exported to Venezuela via St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Speaking on WEFM’s Issue at Hand programme on September 8, Gonsalves said he had yet to be given any official information about the issue.

“I’ve seen various reports that the plane came from Miami to St Vincent, and went on to Venezuela. I’m trying to ascertain whether that has actually happened.”

Gonsalves said he was aware of the abundance of information online speculating about the location of the shell company allegedly used in buying and transferring the plane from the US to Venezuela.

“They haven’t said that the plane was registered in St Vincent. The report said that it was the company which allegedly owned the plane, but I don’t know if that is true either, because that has not been checked.”

The plane is a Dassault Falcon 900EX, with tail number T7 ESPRT.

A report on the Vincentian newspaper Searchlight's website said the plane is said to have been illegally bought for US$13 million in Florida.

Gonsalves said no government has control over what planes travel to St Vincent, and this was a matter for the director of civil aviation.

"Once, under the rules, she sees that everything’s fine, she will give the permission to enter and pass through."

Gonsalves said if his government had been alerted to an issue involving a plane, it would have co-operated, as it has done in the past when it was alerted about planes and boats in which someone might have a specific interest.

He added that information would have been shared with the relevant parties in such circumstances.

Gonsalves said he did not know what sanction the purchase of this plane is reported to have breached. He added that St Vincent and the Grenadines follows all sanctions set by the UN Security Council because it adheres to international law.

Maduro has referred to the seizure of the plane as piracy and an escalation of aggression by the US.

The plane's seizure came weeks after Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner in the July 28 presidential election, without showing any detailed results.

The US has refused to acknowledge Maduro's victory and maintained opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez won the election.

Gonzalez fled to Spain on September 8 after the Venezuelan government issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of terrorism and conspiracy.

US sanction on Venezuela

Since 2005, the US has imposed targeted sanctions on Venezuelan individuals and entities that have engaged in criminal, antidemocratic, or corrupt actions.

In August 2017, the Donald Trump administration imposed sanctions which prohibited Venezuela's access to US financial markets.

In January 2019, the US applied additional economic sanctions to individuals or companies in Venezuela's petroleum, gold, mining, and banking industries and a food subsidy programme.

Last October, the Biden administration temporarily lifted some US sanctions on the oil, gas and gold industries in exchange for the promise of the release of political prisoners and free 2024 elections.

Most of the sanctions were reimposed in April, when the US State Department said the Barbados agreement to hold free elections had not been fully honoured.

But the US allowed waivers to continue to some companies in the form of individual licences to continue operating Venezuela's oil sector.

Trinidad and Tobago was able to benefit from this through the signing of exploration and production contracts with Venezuela for the Dragon and Manakin-Cocuina gas fields.