CARACAS, Sept 11, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, under sanctions and with his July 28 reelection widely questioned, joked that he would have flown to the United States for Tuesday's presidential debate, but couldn't because Washington "stole" his plane.

"I am very attentive to tonight's debate, I almost went there," Maduro said just over a week after the United States seized his plane in the Dominican Republic and flew it to Florida, citing sanctions violations by the Venezuelan strongman.

"If they hadn't stolen my plane in the Dominican Republic, I would have gone there," Maduro said in a public broadcast of the highly-anticipated first debate between candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in Philadelphia.

Washington says the Dassault Falcon 900EX private jet used by Maduro and his entourage had been "illegally purchased."

Maduro called his Dominican counterpart Luis Abinader "a bandit, a thief," over the seizing of the aircraft.

The Dominican Republic said it did not participate in the US probe into the jet.

The United States is among countries that have refused to accept Maduro's claim to re-election in a July poll the Venezuelan opposition says was stolen.

It had also rejected Maduro's previous re-election, in 2018, upping sanctions against the regime.