Is the Falcon 900EX seized in the Dominican Republic a “presidential plane”?

  • Sep, Wed, 2024
  • ICTS


Is the Falcon 900EX seized in the Dominican Republic a “presidential plane”?
Is the Falcon 900EX seized in the Dominican Republic a “presidential plane”?

CNN reported that the United States seized a plane Dassault Falcon 900EXwith registration T7-ESPRT, used by President Nicolás Maduro. U.S. officials explained that the decision was made after it was determined that the acquisition of the aircraft violated U.S. sanctions, among other criminal matters.

The aircraft, estimated to be worth US$13 million, was illegally acquired in 2023 through a shell company and used for the personal benefit of Maduro and his inner circle, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.

The plane was previously registered in the United States and owned by Six G Aviation, a broker that buys and sells used aircraft. FAA records indicate it was exported to St. Vincent and the Grenadines and decommissioned in the U.S. in January 2023. In March, it flew to the Dominican Republic, along with a Venezuelan-registered aircraft, for what is believed to be maintenance, and never left again, the report said. Associated Press.

Characters close to the government have questioned whether the aircraft is a presidential plane, or that it belongs to the Venezuelan government, since Venezuelan license plates are identified with the initials YV, as established in the Article 20 of the Civil Aeronautics Law. The prefix «T7» corresponds to San Marino.

In EsPaja We also detected that Venezolana de Televisión published the following headline on Instagram and on its website: “The US steals Venezuelan presidential plane.” The information was removed from the state channel’s social media and the link to the article on the portal was also modified minutes later.

But there are records of the use of that Falcon 900EX for presidential trips. Nicolás Maduro used it to fly to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in December 2023, when he held a meeting with the president of Guyana:

He also traveled to Mexico on the same plane, when he participated in the Regional Summit on Migration, held in October 2023:

Likewise, that Falcon 900EX was used in the Alex Saab exchange (December 2023):

Maduro does not have a single presidential plane

“The plane (seized in the Dominican Republic) has been described by (US government) officials as the Venezuelan equivalent of Air Force One”: we read this phrase in CNN in Spanish and in English, in its Anglo-Saxon equivalent: «The plane has been described by officials as Venezuela’s equivalent to Air Force One» (CNN). But what is Air Force One? Does this comparison fit reality? EsPaja We came to the conclusion that we are not faced with equivalent circumstances.

Air Force One is the original title in English of even one film starring Harrison Ford in 1997and it is a concept more or less familiar to any moderately informed world citizen: it refers to the official plane of the President of the United States, which is supposedly equipped so that the leader of one of the great powers of the world can continue exercising executive power in the event of an emergency (George W. Bush took a flight immediately after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001).

It should be noted, however, that Air Force One is not a single aircraft either, as this image indicates. verification of ReutersIn a broad sense, the term could be used for any aircraft in which the US president is being transported.

Although according to Reutersthree aircraft have been used in recent years for this function: two Boeing 747-200B identified with the initials VC-25 (in the case of Donald Trump) and a smaller one preferred by Joe Biden, a Boeing 757-200 with the initials C-32, sometimes also referred to as Air Force Two.

Even though there is no Air Force One, it is difficult to compare the US presidential planes with Maduro’s unorthodox air transports.

In 2001, Hugo Chávez changed a Boeing 737-2N1 —which he colloquially called “Camastrón”— for a more modern Airbus A319CJ, identified with the initials FAV 0001, According to research by The Whistle.

According to Maduro himself (2013 statements) that Airbus was transferred by him to the commercial fleet of Conviasa. The truth is that, since then, Maduro has not used a single aircraft to travel within or outside Venezuela, so it is difficult to speak of a single presidential plane, or of a small group of clearly identifiable presidential planes, as in the case of the USA.

It should be noted that Maduro has had many more restrictions to move around the world, due to international sanctions and even a arrest warrant —with a million-dollar reward—issued by the U.S. State Department in 2021.

In addition to the seized Dassault Falcon 900 (from a French manufacturer), Maduro has traveled in a Russian Ilyushin Il 96-300, from the Cubana de Aviación airline, According to specialist journalist Rodolfo Cardona. Lawyer and military specialist Rocío San Miguel (currently a political prisoner) also cited a Embraer ERJ-190 (made in Brazil). Maduro has also been seen on board of Conviasa aircraftIn any case, since Chavez’s death there has been no such thing as a single (or only) clearly recognizable local Air Force One.

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