US Seizes a Plane Being Used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro | EWTN News Nightly

shortage. While the U.S. government seized a plane being used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The Justice Department says the plane is part of violations of sanctions and export control laws. U.S. officials also say the aircraft was purchased illegally through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States. Maduro's socialist government responded, calling the move, quote , piracy and staying in Venezuela. A judge there issues an arrest warrant for the opposition party's former presidential candidate. The move comes amid a criminal investigation by the Socialist government into the contested results of the disputed July election. Maduro was declared the winner , setting off a series of protests. For more , we turn now to Jason Poblete, president of the Global Liberty Alliance and an expert on South America. Jason, great to have you back on, my friend. A lot to discuss, but first, I want to start off with the seizure of President Maduro's plane by the United States. What does this move signal to you ? And do you expect more pressure to be applied to the Maduro regime? >> Well, thanks, Tracy. And I think what's going to happen, and I'll put some context on this in a minute. He's just going to go out and buy another plane. I mean, that was a largely, frankly, symbolic move. And just to give your viewers some context. A lot of this immediate tension began back in late July, when for some reason, the Biden-Harris administration and some Republicans agreed to an electoral process in a totalitarian police state, which that's what Venezuela is. So the people with the guns, the people who control the ballot box, the people who control the electoral system agreed to have elections in a place where it's impossible to have free and fair elections. So they're fighting about who won, who didn't win. We know that the government was never going to accept that. So there's been like an escalation and the sanctions are part of that. And you saw in your piece they're introducing the item. You mentioned that the Maduro regime has gone off and now issued arrest warrants for people in the Venezuelan resistance. They're not opposition. And we can talk about that in a minute. The resistance and that's what I continually see. See this back and forth with Venezuela and the U.S. and this policy of trying to do something in a place where we really can't happen. So there's a lot more that will come of this. I think Maduro is going to go out and buy another plane. I think that's the least of our of our concerns right now. There are some big problems there. And look, my family fled a totalitarian police state. I feel for the people of Venezuela because there was a great purge that has happened. The millions of Venezuelans have been expelled or have been forced to leave here in the U.S. We're seeing Tracy, and I'll close with this. The largest crime spike in Venezuelan gangs in quite some time. This transnational crime . And it's impacting us right here. So that's why we need to care. We need to focus on what's happening in the hemisphere and be more proactive about it. But promoting elections in a place like Venezuela, it's not the way to do it. >> Yeah. Jason, I also want to talk about you mentioned the arrest warrant. We talked about that. What more can you tell us about that? And also the timing of it. Does this surprise you at all? >> No, it doesn't surprise me at all. And I think you will see a lot more of that. They will try and use the Maduro regime has used Interpol. You know that international red notice system that alerts other countries of people who are wanted in those countries for alleged crimes, and the Maduro regime has been very adept at using that system. Most of those Interpol red notices are not respected. Interestingly, they are used against people who are here today and who are fleeing that system. So they've been targeted also. What they did in that move. I'm not sure if it was because of the plane , but the timing of it was interesting, in fact, that they announced it. All right. Well, you can seize the plane, but guess what? We're going to go off and we're going to sanction and go after the people who ran in those elections in late July for President . That's the election they're all fighting over right now. So I think you're going to see a lot more of that. >> Before I let you go, I'm going to set a time here. Jason. But what about the people in Venezuela? I mean, how are they feeling right now since the election happened? >> And this is a terrible situation and that's one of the things, as Catholics, by the way, that we need to be mindful when our policymakers push people to do certain things, that we have to be ready to back them up. We knew these elections were not going to work out correctly, because the Maduro regime was never going to honor them. In fact, I don't think they were even held correctly. So to encourage people to hit the streets when we know that the crackdowns are coming and they came , there's that great purge. You know, my family was purged from Communist Cuba in the early 1960s. That was a huge purge of people who were Catholics, anti-communist, what have you . That's been happening at a different clip in Venezuela , and we are seeing the persecution happening. So if you if you were involved in those protests, they targeted you social influencers, they were targeted. So they're going through a very difficult time. And we have to pray for the people of Venezuela and pray for the people of Nicaragua and Cuba and other places where you have these type of governments. And America needs to change its policy . So it focuses on, for example, getting rid of the Russians, getting rid of the Chinese. We focus on that. We're going to be helping the Venezuelan people, but raising these false hopes about elections, changing the system , it's not one way to help the Venezuelan people. >> Yeah, we're going to continue to follow this story too. Jason, thank you so much for coming on.