Caracas, April 4 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan political and social organizations today in the city of Petare, east of this capital, demanded the release of diplomat Alex Saab, who is being held in the United States on alleged money laundering charges.
The Free Alex Saab Movement, accompanied by the group of volunteer lawyers defending the official, reiterated their opposition to the unlawful detention and violation of his diplomatic immunity as the Venezuelan state’s special envoy.
Camilla Fabri, wife of the diplomat, addressed the popular rally and thanked the Venezuelan people for their continued support for the call for the release of Saab and for condemning Washington’s continued violations of international norms.
“Feeding a people is not illegal, helping Venezuela is not illegal; The United States has chosen politics over international law, choosing to assert its political hegemony and judicial abuse,” said Fabri, who described the arrest of his partner as a kidnapping.
After 491 days of illegal detention in Cape Verde, Saab was extradited to the United States on October 16, where a court in the city of Miami indicted him on multiple charges of money laundering and conspiracy, all of which the defense had solidly dismissed.
Venezuela accredited Alex Saab in 2018 as a special envoy tasked with facilitating the procurement of medical supplies, food and other essential supplies in the face of obstacles imposed by the US blockade.
In mid-2020, at the request of Washington, the official was arrested during a technical stopover of the plane transporting him in Cape Verde, in violation of the sanctity of the immunity corresponding to his appointment as a diplomat.
According to complaints from the Bolivarian executive, the arrest was in response to the siege campaign orchestrated against Venezuela by the previous US administration to inflict more suffering on the people and to destabilize its institutions and internal order.
jha/wup