U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stands by the Venezuelan government airplane he announced is being seized during a press conference in the Dominican Republic, on February 6, 2025. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/AP

Havana, February 8 (RHC)-- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel says that the U.S. government was disrespectful for illegally confiscating a Venezuelan plane, violating the norms of international law.

The Cuban president wrote on the social network X that the act is described as modern piracy and is a new demonstration of the commitment to the Monroe Doctrine, a neocolonial instrument of domination.

On the same platform, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez described the confiscation of an aircraft owned by Venezuela, by order of the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as illegal and arbitrary.

“The U.S. Secretary of State intends to become the ‘Sheriff’ of Latin America and the Caribbean with the illegal confiscation of a Venezuelan plane,” the foreign minister denounced on the social network.

Bruno Rodríguez stressed that this action constitutes "a reprehensible and arbitrary act of modern piracy, which violates International Law and the Charter of the United Nations."

The day before, Marco Rubio supervised the seizure of a second plane belonging to the Venezuelan government, held in the Dominican Republic since September 2024.

Last September, an aircraft that was receiving maintenance in that country was seized by the US Department of Justice and transferred to the state of Florida.

The Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the event as an act of piracy and accused Washington of using its economic and military power to “intimidate and pressure countries like the Dominican Republic to serve as accomplices in its criminal acts.” 

[ SOURCE:  PRENSA LATINA ]