A twin-engine aircraft with registration YV-2199 crashed on September 6 near Tomás de Heres Airport in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, with seven people on board.
Among the passengers were Venezuelan businessmen Domingo Arnaldo and Guillermo Alfredo Amaro Chacón, mentioned in the summary of the Plus Ultra case being investigated by the Spanish National Court due to their alleged ties to former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
According to a report by OKDiario, the aircraft, owned by the company Inversiones Coinpro, was making a stop to refuel when a turbine failed and the brake collector did not activate during landing, causing the plane to impact the runway, slide into a wooded area, and catch fire in its lower section.
The seven occupants —five passengers and two crew members— were injured, with no confirmed fatalities.
The Amaro Chacón brothers were transferred to Caracas and are recovering at the Hierbabuena estate, with a diagnosis of mild burns and contusions, according to the Venezuelan newspaper El Pitazo.
The accident reignites the spotlight on the judicial investigation in Spain, where the Amaro Chacón family is listed as administrators of Inteligencia Prospectiva, a company that the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) describes as "lacking real activity" and which is allegedly implicated in introducing Venezuelan funds into Spain.
According to police reports from the UDEF, this firm would have transferred more than 1.1 million euros to companies associated with Zapatero, including 561,440 euros to What The Fav—a company managed by the former president's daughters—and 368,258 euros to Análisis Relevante.
The plot originates from the public rescue of 53 million euros that the Spanish government granted in March 2021 to the airline Plus Ultra through the State Society for Industrial Participations (SEPI), a company that has raised suspicions from the beginning due to its alleged connections with Venezuelan chavismo and the Cuban regime.
Zapatero was formally charged on May 19, 2026 by the National Court for criminal organization, influence peddling, and document fraud, becoming the first former president of Spanish democracy charged with corruption.
When declaring before Judge José Luis Calama on June 17, Zapatero described the Amaro Chacóns as "two exceptionally bright young entrepreneurs" from "a family belonging to a very important business group" in Venezuela, and admitted: "I have traveled with them and we have attended meetings."
Both brothers accompanied him on a trip to Bolivia in September 2024, during which the UDEF alleges that the former president received 200,000 euros for influencing the Bolivian government on behalf of Grupo Gloria, funneled through a contract that investigators describe as "simulated."
The case has also brought to light the connections between Zapatero and chavismo: the former president has publicly acknowledged his friendship with Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez, and he met with the acting president of Venezuela in Caracas in February 2026, during an ongoing judicial investigation.
In July 2026, the investigation also expanded to include possible investments linked to Cuba with Russian connections, broadening the scope of a scheme that suggests ties between the Spanish left and various dictatorships in the region.
The other passengers of the ill-fated flight —Michael Bradley and Raúl Fragosa— along with the two pilots, are said to have received, according to sources quoted by OKDiario, a "strict prohibition from discussing what happened," which would explain the silence surrounding the details of the incident.
Venezuelan authorities have opened an investigation to determine the exact causes of the accident, and so far, no arrests have been confirmed among those involved.
In September 2025, another air accident related to the Chavista environment attracted attention due to its connections with Cuba.
A Learjet 55, registration YV3440, crashed during takeoff at Maiquetía airport. Flight records consulted at the time by CiberCuba indicated that the aircraft frequently flew between Venezuela and Havana.
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