U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that the United States will continue enforcing sanctions against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro following the seizure and investigation of two aircraft linked to him earlier this week in the Dominican Republic.
Blinken said “About the plane seizures, we’ve been very clear. We’ll implement our sanctions, and if we find violations, we will act.
That’s what we did, and that’s what we’ll continue to do,” Blinken told reporters during a joint press conference with Abinader at the National Palace.
U.S. authorities seized a plane used by Maduro, the equivalent to the U.S. Air Force One. The aircraft, undergoing maintenance in the Dominican Republic, was seized for being illegally purchased through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States, violating U.S. export control and sanctions laws.
After the controversial reelection of Maduro on July 28, Venezuela suspended commercial flights to and from the Dominican Republic.
A second plane linked to Maduro is under investigation in the Dominican Republic. This aircraft is similar to the one seized on Monday and is listed among the sanctioned assets by the U.S. Treasury as belonging to Maduro.
