The plane allegedly owned by Venezuela’s President Nicholas Maduro that the United States seized last week had been used to exchange US and Venezuelan prisoners in Canouan, says Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.
The United States said the Falcon 900EX aircraft was bought illegally for US$13 million and smuggled out of the country before being seized in the Dominican Republic.
The United States said that the sale of the plane violated its export control and sanctions laws.
International media report, citing Flightradar24 data, said the plane appeared to have been flown to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, after arriving in Argyle in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in April 2023.
Maduro flew on the plane from Venezuela to St. Vincent in December 2023 for talks with Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali over the disputed border between the two South American countries.
Speaking on WE FM on Sunday, Gonsalves said he had seen the media reports about the seizure of the plane.
“I have not been given any formal information on this by the US government through any diplomatic channel or otherwise that they have seized under their sanctions, under American sanctions, the plane of Mr. Maduro, President Maduro of Venezuela,” Gonsalves said.
He said he had seen various reports that the plane came from Miami to St Vincent and went on to Venezuela.
“I’m trying to ascertain whether that actually happened,” he said, adding, “…nobody in any political directorate controls which plane is coming”.
Gonsalves, who is minister of national security, said the Director of Civil Aviation grants permission for aircraft to use the nation’s airports.
“Once under the rules or everything which is before her she sees that’s fine, she will give the permission to enter and pass through,” the prime minister said.
He said he had also seen reports that Maduro purchased the plane through a shell company.
“Some say the Caribbean, some say St. Vincent. I see they also said it was registered in San Marino, which is a small principality in Europe.”
Gonsalves said he was checking to find out from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Kingstown whether any registration took place.
“But the registration of an IBC — an international business company — doesn’t come to anybody in the political directorate. That’s a normal company formation.”
He said a request for an international banking license goes to the minister of finance, through the FSA.
“So, people have the whole process cockeyed.”
Gonsalves said people around the Caribbean who are commenting haven’t asked “a simple question, first question, ‘What sort of a sanction is this?’”
He said the sanction is unilateral and not a United Nations sanction.
“St. Vincent the Grenadines is bound by international law to follow the sanctions of the United Nations Security Council,” he said, adding that when such sanctions are passed, they come to him as prime minister.
Gonsalves said he would then send them immediately to the attorney general, the FSA, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the commissioner of police, the comptroller of customs, the chief immigration officer and “all the points which will deal with any sanctioned individual, because we are bound by international law”.
He said the US are unilateral sanctions and suggested that Kingstown would cooperate if the US inform SVG of a particular sanction and seek its cooperation on enforcing it.
“But I don’t know of any communication which has been so made,” Gonsalves said and emphasised, “International sanctions from the Security Council have to be obeyed by all responsible nations.
“If there’s a unilateral sanction of a particular state, they may seek the cooperation of another state in complying with those sanctions. But no request was made to us, as far as I’m aware, in that regard in relation to this particular matter.”
He said some people were focusing on whether the plane passed through St. Vincent.
“Well, I see in the report that that very plane arrived in Canouan, took Americans from Venezuela as part of the exchange of prisoners, which this government had facilitated between Americans and Venezuelans,” Gonsalves said.
“… I’ve not said anything about this yet, because I allow everybody to speak and run off their mouth, much of it politically jaundiced and uninformed and don’t understand the specificities of particular types of sanctions and what are the requisites.”
He said people must have been the reports “that this very plane also took from Caracas, from Venezuela to Canouan, well, they didn’t say to St. Vincent and the Grenadines but to Canouan, where on two separate occasions, we assisted in the facilitation of the exchange of prisoners — some Americans the Venezuelans had, and some Venezuelans, whom the Americans had.”
Gonsalves said the prisoner swap took place on Vincentian soil because “we are friends of all, and we strive for a better world”.
He said the prisoner exchange involving the plane took place last year and a different plane was involved in the previous swap.
The prime minister said his government did not have the name of the company that the reports said was registered in St. Vincent and through which Maduro had bought the plane.
“If you had the name of the company, you could have just checked the registry,” Gonsalves said.
“… all I could go on there is what the press report said that it was a shell company which purchased the plane and that shell company was registered in St. Vincent. But I’ve seen that they say that the company is registered in San Marino. So, I’ve seen different reports on that.”
He said the reports have not said that the plane was registered in SVG.
“They said that the company which allegedly owned the plane, but I don’t know if that is true either, because that has to be checked.”
He said that unless alerted that there is something untoward about a particular plane, the authorities are likely to allow it to pass through SVG.
“… and we have been alerted before about planes and boats which people may have a particular interest in. And we would have shared information because we’re a responsible member of the international community,” Gonsalves said.
Ralph Gonsalves why don’t you shut your mouth. Why didn’t we hear about these things sooner before you tried to doctor it. SVG will soon be on the US sanctions list for all the crooked things you are involved in.
I continue to shake my head in disbelief at the extent to which Gonsalves is obviously of the view that St. Vincent and the Grenadines is his personal property and fiefdom over which he exercises Maduro-like total control, and that the people are clowns and are absolutely devoid of common sense and the ability to think for themselves. So he can push any nonsense at them as long as he dresses it up in nice language and fancy words because they are too “dotish” to see the crap for what it is!! Well! Well! Nuff said.
Randy Cato, I strongly agree, something is so wrong with my people, believe that someone bewitched them,a curse is on the people, what troubles me is the pastors and church goers who worships him. So frightening.