US to seize Venezuelan president's plane held in Dominican Republic during Rubio visit

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

US to seize Venezuelan president’s plane held in Dominican Republic during Rubio visit

By MATTHEW LEE
Updated 9:36 PM EST, February 5, 2025

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Trump administration plans to seize a second plane belonging to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ’s government that is currently in the Dominican Republic.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio intends to announce the seizure on Thursday during a visit to Santo Domingo, the last stop of his five nation tour of Central America, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter and a State Department document obtained by The Associated Press.

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. It also required approval by the Department of Justice.

That waiver request, submitted early last week, has been approved and Rubio is expected to make the announcement at what the State Department has described publicly as only a “law enforcement engagement.”

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/us-venezuela-rubio-dominican-republic-f99ceddd5a6f40aea1bb6e17b29b6083

[Firestorm49]

1. Sounds like a grift to me. Storage and maintenance? A yacht I can understand, but a plane sitting in a hangar

doesn’t need more than routine maintenance. $230,000?