MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine judge orders Emtrasur Jumbo handed over to the US

Venezuela threatened Latin American countries allowing the B-747-300 to fly back to the United States that such an acquiescence would be interpreted as a hostile act

Lomas de Zamora Federal Judge Federico Villena, who has jurisdiction over Buenos Aires' international Ezeiza Airport, Wednesday acquiesced to a request from the United States and ordered the Boeing 747-300 freighter aircraft belonging to Venezuelan carrier Empresa de Transporte de Aerocargo del Sur (Emtrasur), after obtaining it from Iran's Mahan Air handed over to Washington.

The United States argues that by selling the four-engined airplane to Caracas, Tehran had dodged sanctions while the airplane is also said to have given logistics support to several terrorist acts worldwide.

After the magistrate's decision, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government said Argentina's Judiciary was submitting to the United States by agreeing to a request made in October 2022 by the District of Columbia's District Court.

The aircraft has been grounded in Buenos Aires since June 2022 when it was denied fuel to go back to Venezuela, which was also a request from the United States. Any airport assisting a wanted aircraft risks being treated as an accomplice.

Maduro's administration “categorically” condemned Villena's decision, which was found “servile to imperial interests.” The Bolivarian government also said Villena “tries to consummate the theft” of the aircraft and claimed to have proven before “all international legal and political instances” the “legal and legitimate possession of the aforementioned aircraft, dedicated to the transport of basic necessities.”

“The conduct of pillage, piracy, and vassalage of the Argentine Justice and government transgresses its own legislation and turns said nation into a serious violator of international legality in commercial and aeronautical matters,” Maduro's government argued while pledging to take “all legal, diplomatic and political measures to safeguard its rights.”

The international community, and “especially Latin American countries”, was also warned that “any illegal measure that allows the overflight and support to consummate this theft will be duly interpreted as a hostile act.”

Mahan Air and Emtrasur, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan state-owned Conviasa, are sanctioned by the US Treasury Department.

The freighter's crew made up of five Iranians and fourteen Venezuelans was initially detained but was later released by Judge Villena for lack of evidence.

Villena's decision to seize and deliver the aircraft to the United States follows the opinion of Prosecutor Cecilia Incardona and the Director General of Regional and International Cooperation of the Attorney General's Office, Diego Solernó, who considered the forfeiture request to be appropriate. Both officials took into consideration a treaty signed by Argentina and the United States in which both countries “committed to providing mutual assistance”, which includes “cooperation in the execution of requests for search, seizure and sequestration”.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil said through a statement that “with this illegal decision, the Argentine State submits to the powers of US imperialism and flagrantly violates the Convention on International Civil Aviation, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the Charter of the United Nations, the Bilateral Agreement between the Argentine Republic and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and other agreements related to International Air Navigation and Human Rights.”

In Paraguay, the B-747-300 brought political turbulence after it landed at the Guarani airport in Ciudad del Este on May 13 and took off on May 18 2022 to carry cigarettes belonging to Tabesa, a company owned by former President Horacio Cartes.