The case of the Venezuelan plane in Argentina, which the U.S. wants to seize

The U.S. intention to seize the Venezuelan plane held in Argentina “violates international law and the sovereign right of peoples,” Venezuelan lawyer Laila Tajeldine told Sputnik.

“The U.S. has requested the seizure of the aircraft because it allegedly violated U.S. export control laws, so this is the application of a U.S. law with extraterritorial effect. It is no secret that this is a violation of international law and the sovereign right of peoples,” Tajeldine said.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Venezuela

According to the expert, they are trying to enforce the laws of one country in another, as the U.S. intends through a request that its Department of Justice sent to the Argentine authorities on August 2.

The plane, a Boeing 747 from the Emtrasur company, has been held in Buenos Aires since June 6, when it landed to deliver an order for auto parts.

Tajeldine recalled that the plane was stopped on June 6 but not at the request of the U.S. At that time, it was detained due to a complaint from Argentine Jewish institutions that suspected the identity of the five Iranian crew members of the aircraft acquired by Venezuela from the Iranian airline Mahan Air.

The lawyer indicated that the U.S. Justice set its sights on the plane more than a month later, on July 19, allegedly because the transported cargo violated U.S. laws on export control.

Despite the request of the U.S. Justice for Tajeldine, Argentina has no obligation to accede to the request to put the aircraft at its disposal.

According to the expert, if Argentina agrees to the request, there would be “a subordination of the laws of Argentina to the laws of the United States, which are intended to have an extraterritorial effect.”

For Tajeldine, Argentina runs the risk of exercising “the same role that the Government of Cape Verde played two years ago” in the arrest of the Venezuelan diplomat Álex Saab, arrested in 2020 in the African country on a scale after an accusation by the U.S. Justice.

The lawyer recalled that on that occasion, Cape Verde was used “to carry out the foreign policy of persecution and violation of international law, affecting the interests of Venezuela.”

Indeed, the Venezuelan government warned that Saab was carrying out diplomatic missions and his work was essential for the arrival of food and medicine in Venezuelan territory, affected by trade sanctions imposed by Washington.

Tajeldine maintained that the U.S. continues to appeal to the same strategy, to apply sanctions to promote political change in Venezuela. She mentioned other cases, such as the United Kingdom, whose Justice also seeks to block the use of Venezuelan gold deposited in London.

For Tajeldine, the U.S. has become, in this process, “the world coordinator of this financial terrorism against the assets of sovereign states.”

The Venezuelan aircraft landed on June 6 in Argentine territory, where it would have delivered a cargo supposedly made up of auto parts from the German company Volkswagen.

However, when it prepared to leave the Argentine territory on June 6, no company provided it with fuel for fear of the sanctions that the United States could apply.

The aircraft then went to Uruguay on June 8 with the intention of loading fuel to return to Venezuela. Still, the Uruguayan authorities rejected the landing request, and the plane had to return to the Ezeiza airport southwest of Buenos Aires.

With information from Sputnik

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