The administration of US President Donald Trump is preparing to seize another plane owned by the Venezuelan government currently stationed in the Dominican Republic for maintenance during a visit by American Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the Caribbean nation.

Rubio was expected to make the announcement on Thursday during his visit to Santo Domingo, the final stop of his five nation tour of Central America, more than a year after Washington seized a Venezuelan Dassault Falcon 900EX worth $13 million.

The US said that the acquisition of the plane, which it claimed belonged to President Nicolas Maduro, was because of violation of US sanctions.

The Associated Press, citing an unnamed US official familiar with the matter and a State Department document, announced the new seizure on Thursday.

To facilitate the seizure of the second plane, a Dassault Falcon 200, Rubio approved a waiver to allocate over $230,000 in foreign aid funds for its storage and maintenance. The Department of Justice also gave its consent, citing a similar pretext as the seizure of the first plane.

Caracas has not yet commented on the issue, but it denounced the first seizure in September last year as “illegal”, stressing that Washington had “stole” the Venezuelan aircraft.

The US claims that the aircraft had been used by Maduro and his top officials for international travel to multiple countries, including Russia, Turkey, Cuba, and Greece, in violation of Washington’s sanctions against Caracas.

The move follows the recent visit of Richard Grenell, Trump’s special envoy, who traveled to Caracas to negotiate the return of Venezuelan citizens who had illegally entered the US.

Grenell’s trip resulted in the return of six Americans detained in Venezuela.

The development highlights the ongoing US-Venezuela tensions as the plane seizures are considered to be the Trump administration’s broader strategy to intensify pressure on Maduro’s government and strengthen US influence in the region.

Maduro was declared the winner of the country’s presidential election on July 28 by electoral authorities. He secured 51 percent of the votes, but the US and its allies refuse to recognize his victory and support his pro-Western rival. 

US hostility to Venezuela started more than two decades ago with the launch of the Bolivarian Revolution by late Venezuelan anti-imperialist and revolutionary leader Hugo Chavez.

Since the mid-2010s, US administrations have subjected Caracas to extreme sanctions meant to destabilize the economy of the oil-rich country.