Maduro's regime demands the return of state-owned company airplane held in Argentina

Dictator Nicolás Maduro asked Argentine President Alberto Fernández on Monday to return the Emtrasur airplane, which was detained with its 19 crew members—five of them Iranians—on June 8 after it landed at the international airport of Ezeiza, Buenos Aires. 

"I am upset about the theft of the plane in Argentina," Maduro said in a televised government act. "There is no respect for International Law. Or is it that in Argentina the courts of the United States rule?"

¡Debe respetarse la doctrina de la propiedad de los Estados! No aceptamos ni aceptaremos nunca la ley de la jungla que nos quieren imponer desde el norte. Venezuela exige respeto a su soberanía y a sus bienes nacionales. pic.twitter.com/GY8G2q4vni

— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) August 9, 2022

The aircraft belongs to the Venezuelan state-owned company Emtrasur and was recently acquired from the Iranian airline Mahan Air. Both companies are sanctioned by Washington. Argentine authorities are seeking to determine whether the passengers arrived in Argentine territory for commercial purposes or because of an alleged connection with international terrorism, reported El País.

Maduro shouted that he is "outraged" by the threat of the Boing 747-300M being seized at the request of a U.S. court.

The U.S. Department of Justice last week asked Argentine authorities to seize the aircraft, after a Washington court issued an order on July 19 to do so.

By transferring the aircraft to the Venezuelan firm in October 2021 without prior authorization from the U.S. government, Mahan Air violated a 2008 order issued by the Commerce Department that has since been periodically renewed, according to the United States. 

The request to seize the plane also came after Argentine federal judge Federico Villena, in charge of the investigation, banned seven Iranian and Venezuelan crew members from leaving Argentina, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela's second most powerful man, accused Fernandez of acting like his predecessor Mauricio Macri, who was a critic of the Venezuelan regime. 

"The plane belongs to Venezuela and was hijacked by the government of President Fernandez, who is the only one responsible for what happens to that plane and the Venezuelan crew," said Cabello, Vice President of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), in a television appearance.

The case of the plane held in Argentina has drawn international attention, including the United States and Israel, amid accusations that the aircraft was a front for Iranian intelligence operations in the region. Tehran and Caracas deny the accusations.