The plane appeared to be flown to the Venezuelan capital Caracas after arriving in Kingstown in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in April 2023, according to data held by the Flightradar24 website.
US officials said it subsequently flew “almost exclusively to and from a military base in Venezuela”. It is unclear how and when the plane arrived in the Dominican Republic.
But US officials said the jet had been used by Mr Maduro “on visits to other countries”.
The Venezuelan government announced in late July that it was temporarily suspending commercial flights to both the Dominican Republic and Panama following the controversial re-election of Mr Maduro.
Venezuela’s opposition has released polling data which suggests its unity candidate, Edmundo González, won a convincing victory. However, his win has not been recognised by an electoral council loyal to Mr Maduro.
The European Union has refused to recognise Maduro as having won re-election in July without seeing voting results.
Several Latin American countries have also withheld their support, with Mr Maduro’s former ally, President Lula of Brazil, among those calling for full transparency by the Venezuelan government.
The US has recognised Mr González as the winner, saying there is “overwhelming” evidence of Maduro’s defeat.
This is not the first time Mr Maduro or Venezuela’s government have been targeted by US federal authorities over alleged corruption.
In 2020, the justice department charged Mr Maduro and 14 Venezuelan officials with narco-terrorism, corruption, and drug trafficking, among other charges.
The state department has offered a reward of up to $15m for information leading to Mr Maduro’s arrest or conviction.
Source link
