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The aircraft was seized in the Dominican Republic with the assistance of the country’s authorities and transferred to Florida for having been “illegally purchased” for 13 million dollars.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on Monday expressed his solidarity with his ally and Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, over the confiscation of the Venezuelan leader’s official plane by U.S. authorities based on sanctions imposed by Washington on Caracas.
During an event on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the Nicaraguan Army, Ortega said that “in our Latin America we are facing an attack by the North American empire, wanting to overthrow governments simply because they do not submit to them.”
“And we see how they have acted and continue to act against the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” he added.
The US Justice Department said the aircraft was seized in the Dominican Republic – with the assistance of the country’s authorities – and transferred to Florida for having been “illegally purchased” for $13 million “through a shell company and smuggled out of the US for use by Nicolás Maduro.”
In August 2019, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order prohibiting U.S. citizens from engaging in transactions with persons who have acted or purported to act directly or indirectly for or on behalf of the Government of Venezuela.
In his speech, Ortega told Maduro: “We are with the Bolivarian people, we are against the systematic aggressions that have been committed against the Venezuelan people.”
“The Venezuelan people want peace and they want to turn it into hell simply to steal Venezuela’s oil,” continued the Sandinista leader, for whom “that has been the practice of the imperialists.”
The Venezuelan government considered that “this is not an isolated action” but rather “part of an escalation of actions against the government” following the elections of July 28, whose official result gave victory to Maduro, which has not been recognized by many countries, since the majority opposition has denounced that there was fraud and claims victory.
In addition to calling the seizure of the plane “piracy,” the Caracas statement said it “reserves the right to take any legal action to repair this damage to the nation, as well as all other damages caused by the criminal policy” of Washington.
The governments of Managua and Caracas have been close political and economic allies since the so-called Bolivarian revolution came to power in 1999, led by Hugo Chávez.
Nicaragua was one of the first countries to recognize Maduro’s victory in the July 28 presidential elections, declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE) despite protests against it.