The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has called the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, a “thief” and a “bandit” on Tuesday for the seizure by the United States of the Venezuelan presidential plane in the Caribbean country, although the country’s authorities have denied any direct responsibility.
“They left me without a plane. The thief of the president of the Dominican Republic, Abinader, who is a bandit, a thief. The people of the Dominican Republic will hold him accountable at the time. Don’t give me a face that says I didn’t do it. I have spoken with him a lot, quite a few times that we have spoken, quite a lot, face to face,” Maduro said during the Plenary of the Federal Government Council.
The president made these statements when he joked about traveling to the United States to see the debate held this Tuesday night between the vice president, Kamala Harris, and former president Donald Trump.
“I’m very attentive to tonight’s debate. I’m almost leaving for there. If they hadn’t stolen my plane in the Dominican Republic, I would have gone there. So I can’t go to the debate,” he added.
The plane, a Dassault Falcon 900EX, was in Dominican territory for maintenance needs. A court in the Dominican Republic then authorized the immobilization of the aircraft and a new court order was issued allowing the delivery of the plane to the “requesting” country, in this case the United States.
