Sawt Falasteen - Venezuela brands Rubio a 'thief' over US jet seizure

On a visit to the Dominican Republic on Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio supervised the second seizure by the United States of an aircraft belonging to Venezuela's socialist government in less than a year.

The plane was confiscated just six days after a visit to Caracas by Trump's special envoy, Richard Grenell.

Venezuela "denounces the brazen theft of a plane belonging to the Venezuelan nation," the foreign ministry said.

"Marco Rubio, from mercenary of hate to aircraft thief!" the ministry said, vowing to "take all necessary actions to denounce this theft and demand the immediate return of its aircraft."

Grenell had traveled to Venezuela on January 31 to demand that Maduro accept the return of deported Venezuelan migrants.

During his visit, he secured the release of six US prisoners.

Maduro, who is desperate to secure an easing of crippling US sanctions, had hailed the talks as marking a new beginning in relations with Washington.

But Rubio and other US officials insisted there was no change in the United States' refusal to recognize the 62-year-old autocrat as Venezuela's legitimate president.

- Two planes in five months -

Washington, its G7 allies and several Latin American countries have backed the opposition's claim that its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was the rightful winner of elections last July, in which Maduro claimed a third term.

The Dassault Falcon 200 jet had been held by Dominican authorities at a military airstrip in Santo Domingo after the United States said it violated sanctions against Venezuela.

Venezuelan officials used the plane to fly to Greece, Turkey, Russia, Nicaragua and Cuba, and had taken it to the Dominican Republic for maintenance, according to the US State Department.

Maduro's oil minister also used the plane to attend a meeting of the OPEC oil cartel in the United Arab Emirates in 2019, according to the Treasury Department.

In September, then-US president Joe Biden announced the seizure of a first Venezuelan government plane in the Dominican Republic that had been used to transport Maduro on international trips.

Biden's move came amid an international furore over Maduro's crackdown on the protests that erupted over his disputed reelection claim.

More than 2,400 people were arrested, 28 killed and about 200 injured in the unrest.

Gonzalez Urrutia went into exile in Spain after a warrant was issued for his arrest and a bounty offered for his capture.

- Maduro seeks 'new beginning' -

Trump took a hard line on Venezuela during his first term in the White House, but his attempts to dislodge Maduro by recognizing a parallel opposition-led government and imposing crippling sanctions on Venezuela's key oil sector came to naught.

On starting his second term last month, Trump quickly stripped roughly 600,000 Venezuelans in the United States of protection from deportation.

But Maduro appeared hopeful of a reset in relations when Grenell visited Caracas, saying it marked a "new beginning."

Rubio this week appeared to downplay chances of a breakthrough, saying Venezuela remained a concern for US national security due to mass migration.

Seven million Venezuelans -- around a quarter of the population -- have fled the country's imploding economy over the past decade.

"It is about a government -- a regime -- that has harmed more than seven million Venezuelans, and all the neighboring countries that have had to face the reality of this massive migration," Rubio said on Wednesday in Guatemala.

Dominican Republic and Guatemala were among two of five Central American countries that Rubio visited on his first foreign trip as secretary of state over the past week.

Y.AlMasri--SF-PST