United States Dismantles Stolen Plane to Venezuela

The United States (US) government scrapped the Venezuelan plane seized from the Cargo del Sur Transport Company (Emtrasur), a subsidiary of the state-owned Conviasa. 

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The plane had been retained since June 2022 by the Argentine government. The main reason for its seizure was its membership of Iranian corporation, Mahan Air, to which the US had imposed sanctions for alleged financing of terrorist groups.

Since its seizure, the US government had asked to be given the ship as part of evidence of an alleged Iranian terrorist network. In 2024 President Javier Milei unconstitutionally ceded the plane to the US.

The Bolivarian government rejected the hijacking and protested the illegitimacy of the action. Yvan Gil called the operation "shameful theft of the aircraft".

Faced with this situation, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro affirmed "Milei’s bandit stole the plane from Venezuela, Javier Milei, the hero of the extreme right of the surnames, that hero of the extreme right of the surnames stole a large plane from Venezuela".

This Wednesday, it was announced that the plane already owned by the United States, was scrapped and destroyed in North American territory.

The Venezuelan Transport Minister and President of Conviasa stated in X "In the Arizona desert, the US government maintains a cemetery of more than 5,000 planes, degrading the environment of the planet. Yesterday they tore apart the EMTRASUR plane, to demoralize the Venezuelan people and demonstrate its imperial character."