The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, returned to Brazil after 8 years and on board an Airbus A319 with “disguise”.
The president of Venezuela, considered by many a dictator, landed in Brasilia in the early hours of Monday morning aboard an Airbus A319ACJ with titles and registration of Conviasa, the main Venezuelan airline.
The jet has civil registration YV-2984, and is a legitimate ACJ (Airbus Corporate Jet), which is a factory modified plane for VIP transport, with greater comfort and extended range, and is virtually identical to the FAB-2101 used by Brazil’s presidents.
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The aircraft, however, is not originally from Conviasa, but was delivered to Venezuela in 2001 with the registration number 0001 of Aviación Militar Bolivariana. It even sported the country’s colours until 2019, with a similar stripe to several other presidential aircraft as shown in the photo below:
Without official explanation, the number plate was changed for the civilian one and the paintwork for Conviasa’s, in what appears to be a “disguise” so that the plane would appear to belong to the airline that would rent it or lend it occasionally to the presidency, which is not the case since the company only has this A319 and does not make commercial flights with it.
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The arrival at Brasilia Air Base after a direct flight from Caracas, included military honours. This is Maduro’s first visit after 2015, when he last came to Brazil for Dilma Rousseff’s second term inauguration. The Venezuelan president is expected to meet with Lula later on Monday, more politically aligned than its predecesor, Jair Bolsonaro.
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