US to Seize Presidential Jet as Caracas Rejects ‘Enemy of Humanity’ Label

Mexico City, Mexico, February 6, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to announce the seizure of a second jet used by the presidency of Venezuela as part of a continued aggressive posture toward the Nicolás Maduro government. 

The aircraft in question is a Dassault Falcon 200 located in the Dominican Republic, reportedly used by high-ranking Venezuelan officials, including the president, Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López.

Last year, the US government confiscated a Dassault Falcon 900EX used by Maduro on official trips, with the Venezuelan government labeling the action at the time an act of “piracy.”

Recent US actions toward Venezuela reflect the mixed signals coming from the Donald Trump administration as the US president embarks on his second term. Earlier this month, Maduro welcomed White House Special Envoy Richard Grenell to the Miraflores Presidential Palace as part of a first engagement with the recently inaugurated administration.

Maduro described Grenell’s visit as a “first step” toward improved bilateral relations. The Venezuelan government broke diplomatic ties with the US in 2019 following the White House’s recognition of the self-proclaimed “interim government” led by Juan Guaidó. 

The meeting led to the release of 6 US nationals and a reported agreement by Caracas to begin accepting deportation flights of Venezuelans.

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem recently revoked an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the more than 600,000 Venezuelans currently in the United States, leaving them at risk of deportation. Trump also directed the Department of Homeland Security to end Biden-era parole programs, including one designed for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.

The high-level meeting between Maduro and Grenell led to speculation that Trump, who pushed a “maximum pressure” strategy against Caracas before, might favor a more transactional approach toward Venezuela in his second term.

Following that meeting, however, Rubio told Fox News that the administration was not discussing any recognition of the Maduro government and again threatened the Venezuelan leader.

“[Trump] will take actions (sic). I’m not going to talk about what those actions are, but he knows, and they know we have many options to inflict serious damage and harm on the Maduro regime,” he said.

The US secretary of state also held a phone call with former presidential candidate Edmundo González and far-right leader María Corina Machado, with the department also calling the former “Venezuela’s rightful president.”

The jet seizure likewise follows an event in Costa Rica where Rubio labeled Venezuela, alongside Cuba and Nicaragua, as “enemies of humanity” and pinned the “migration crisis” in the hemisphere on these three countries.

“[T]hose three regimes that exist in Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba are enemies of humanity, and they have created a migration crisis.  If it were not for these three regimes, there would not be a migration crisis in the hemisphere,” said Rubio through an interpreter. 

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded strongly to Rubio’s comments, saying that emigration from his country is caused by US coercive measures aimed at promoting regime change.

“It has been proven that the migratory exodus in Cuba is proportional to the tightening of the blockade, which deprives our people of essential goods. Humanity is in danger because of your neo-fascism,” wrote Díaz-Canel on social media.

“The empire with its expansionist appetite and its futile pretension of governing the world is the enemy of humanity,” he added.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil responded similarly, “The only enemies of humanity are those who with their abuse and war machine have sowed misery and chaos for decades throughout half the world.”

The Venezuelan government, for its part, has in the past frequently pointed to US-led unilateral coercive measures as being responsible for the exodus of Venezuelans.

Economic sanctions have been denounced in multiple multilateral instances. The declaration from the 2023 Palenque Summit on Migration, which hosted several regional leaders, condemned the measures against Venezuela and Cuba for violating international law and their negative impact on target countries.

Both Democratic and Republican administrations in Washington have pursued regime change in all three countries. Efforts have included the financing of opposition groups and affiliated media via the US Agency for International Development (USAID). 

The Trump administration has moved to overhaul USAID, ordering a 90-day freeze and moving the agency into the purview of the State Department. In Fiscal Year 2023, foreign assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean, managed by the State Department and USAID, amounted to slightly more than $2 billion. 

AP reported that the seizure of the Dassault Falcon 200 required Rubio to sign off on a waiver of the freeze in order to pay off the $230,000 in storage and maintenance fees in the Dominican Republic. 

The freeze of USAID funds has impacted the US-backed Venezuelan opposition, who have received millions from the US agency in recent years alongside control of resources seized by Washington.

According to the Washington Office on Latin America, from fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2024, the US government provided over $3.5 billion in “humanitarian aid” to Venezuela and countries hosting Venezuelan emigres. During the same period, US assistance for so-called democracy, development, and health programs in Venezuela, funded through annual appropriations, totaled approximately $336.2 million. Venezuelanalysis estimates place the losses caused by oil sanctions alone between $21 and $27 billion annually.

Venezuelan opposition operators have drawn recurrent accusations of misappropriation of funds, including from rival anti-government factions.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.