The Trump administration is set to seize a second plane owned by the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, which is currently in the Dominican Republic. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to announce the seizure on Thursday during his visit to Santo Domingo, the final stop of his five-nation tour in Central America, according to a U.S. official and a document from the State Department obtained by The Associated Press.
In order to carry out the seizure, Rubio had to approve a waiver request for a freeze on foreign aid to cover over $230,000 in storage and maintenance fees. The Department of Justice also had to approve the request. The waiver was submitted early last week and has now been approved. Rubio is scheduled to make the announcement during an event that the State Department has referred to as a “law enforcement engagement.”
The plane in question is a Dassault Falcon 200, which has been used by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his senior officials, including the vice president and defense minister, for international travel. The plane has flown to various countries, including Greece, Turkey, Russia, and Cuba. The U.S. administration claims these trips violate U.S. sanctions, according to the document.
The plane seizure comes just one week after Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, visited Caracas and met with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to discuss the repatriation of Venezuelan nationals who had entered the U.S. illegally. Grenell returned to the U.S. with six Americans who had been detained in Venezuela.
This is not the first plane linked to Maduro that the U.S. has seized. In September 2024, the U.S. took another plane from the Dominican Republic. The Justice Department had previously stated that in late 2022 and early 2023, associates of Maduro used a shell company based in the Caribbean to conceal their involvement in purchasing the Dassault Falcon 900EX, valued at $13 million, from a Florida company.
Additionally, in connection with Rubio’s Central American tour, the State Department announced that Panama had agreed to allow U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal without charge.
One of President Donald Trump’s concerns about the Panama Canal was the fees associated with it, which he had threatened to reclaim from Panama unless the country took strong action to limit Chinese influence in the region.
The U.S. State Department announced that U.S. government vessels can now pass through the Panama Canal without incurring fees, potentially saving the U.S. government millions of dollars annually. This agreement in principle was reached during Rubio’s visit to Panama on Sunday, although it had not been finalized at that time.