A small Caribbean island nation with a history of involvement in global diplomacy has launched a probe to determine how and when an executive jet belonging to controversial Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was allowed to transit the Eastern Caribbean nation without the knowledge of the cabinet.
According to Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the longest serving head of government in the 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) grouping, American federal agents seized a Dassault Falcon 900EX (tail number T7 ESPRT) earlier this month in the Dominican Republic. The feds accused its owners or controllers of breaching economic and other sanctions against Venezuela by using third parties to buy the plane in Florida and sneaking it out of the country for use by Maduro. Maduro has been using the aircraft for months for flying to various international conferences around the hemisphere. The aircraft was flown back to the U.S. and remains confiscated.
Speaking on a radio program recently, Gonsalves said he and his cabinet want answers about how the aircraft was allowed to move across the country to Venezuela. International reports have suggested that the Venezuelans received all the help they had needed to sneak the plane to Caracas through St. Vincent.
“I’ve seen various reports that the plane came from Miami to St Vincent, and went on to Venezuela,” he told WEFM’s Issue at Hand program. “I’m trying to ascertain whether that has actually happened. 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.”
Gonsalves said he is also aware of accusations that a shell company might have been used as the front to purchase the aircraft and get around American sanctions.
Elaborating on the situation, Gonsalves argued that governments are not normally aware of what aircraft land or transit a country. This is the preserve of the director of civil aviation, who determines what crews are compliant with rules and regulations in the sector. “Once, under the rules, she sees that everything’s fine, she will give the permission to enter and pass through.”
He made it clear that if authorities had been informed about such a plane traveling in the eastern Caribbean island, the government would have cooperated with international investigators.
His statements came as the U.S. and the international community increase pressure on Maduro to step down after controversial general elections in late July ,which Maduro claimed to have won by a majority. Critics say the opposite had occurred — that the combined opposition had won by a landslide.
Just this week, Washington announced additional sanctions on senior Venezuelan officials, including visa cancellations.
Maduro and several of the smaller eastern Caribbean nations enjoy extremely close relations through membership in the umbrella ALBA grouping, and by way of aid and trade assistance from Caracas over the years. These governments have basically blessed the results showing that Maduro had won, while the international community has claimed that he had lost.
Last year, St. Vincent’s sister isle, Canouan, was used as the prisoner swap venue between the U.S. and Venezuela. Washington released Alex Saab, a close associate of Maduro, in exchange for 36 prisoners, a third of whom were Americans. In late 2022, Canouan was again the venue for a swap when Venezuela freed seven jailed Americans, including five oil and gas executives,a in exchange for two relatives of the wife of Maduro.
