Alex Saab, during a Miami court hearing in December 2021. Photo: Daniel Pontet / Reuters.
Caracas, February 16, 2022 (OrinocoTribune.com)—The defense of the Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab denied that the diplomat had been a collaborator of the Drug Control Administration (DEA), as it was claimed today in “declassified” documents from the United States by the controversial AP journalist Joshua Goodman, via Twitter.
The journalist, notorious for his US Department of State and US security apparatus connections, posted a “sealed” document from February 2021 by the US District Court from the Southern District of Florida, mentioning an alleged cooperation between Saab and the DEA for a duration of at least 12 months.
Goodman wrote: “BREAKING: Prosecutors say Alex Saab was signed up as a cooperating source of @DEAHQ since June 2018 and was scheduled to surrender May 30, 2019. As an informant, Saab provided information on bribes paid to Venezuelan officials. He also forfeited nearly $10 million to the DEA.”
BREAKING: Prosecutors says Alex Saab was signed up as a cooperating source of @DEAHQ since June 2018 and was scheduled to surrender May 30, 2019.
As an informant, Saab provided information on bribes paid to Venezuelan officials. He also forfeited nearly $10 million to the DEA. pic.twitter.com/Bn9IgTpvz1
— Joshua Goodman (@APjoshgoodman) February 16, 2022
The AP journalist then published a news piece about his (or Washington’s) account of the latest events in Saab’s case. The Venezuelan diplomat has been kidnapped for more than 600 days and presenting him as a DEA informant does not make much sense for most people. A few hours later Goodman published another Tweet containing information later contradicted by a different statement from another one of Saab’s attorneys.
Why did Alex Saab want to keep secret his meetings with @DEAHQ?
Because he says his family is "under the thumb" of the Maduro govt and can't leave Venezuela.
They "will be either put in jail…or harmed," his attorney argued in a sidebar Wednesday. Unsealed transcript 👇 pic.twitter.com/ySTFpBVIbc
— Joshua Goodman (@APjoshgoodman) February 16, 2022
In the tweet Goodman presented two pages from an alleged unsealed transcript of Neil Schuster, Saab’s attorney, requesting the hearing to be sealed. In the transcript, Schuster is arguing that this confidentiality is crucial for the safety of Saab’s wife and kids, as they are “under the thumb of the government.” If the documents are shown to be legitimate, it will prove the decision taken by Saab’s attorney to be a very bad one.
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Just a few hours after the tweets by AP’s Goodman, Alex Saab’s wife, Camilla Fabri, posted in a tweet a letter from another one of Saab’s attorneys, David Rivkin in New York, in which he states that “Mr. Saab wishes to clarify that the sole purpose of the meetings with the Department of Justice and law enforcement officials was to confirm that neither he nor any companies associated with him had done anything wrong.”
Intentan frenar el apoyo que naturalmente ha acompañado esta campaña.
EEUU miente descaradamente, como con Rusia e Irak.
Alex Saab jamás perjudicará a Venezuela, no lo ha hecho ni lo hará.Liberaremos a Alex, y lo haremos en lealtad. #FreeAlexSaab pic.twitter.com/5O15aUfTSU
— Camilla Fabri Saab (@CamillaFSaab) February 16, 2022
Rivking adds in the letter: “Mr. Saab states in the strongest possible terms that any alleged engagement which took place with the Department of Justice and various law enforcement officials was undertaken with the full knowledge and support of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
In this latest move by Washington using its stenographer Goodman and the AP, an attempt was made to deepen the smear campaign against the Venezuelan diplomat. These documents, along with the legal persecution and unlawful kidnapping of Saab, qualify as evidence of the bullying behaviour of “US justice.”
Sadly, neither Saab himself nor his attorneys or fellow Venezuelan government officials disclosed information about the DEA engagement beforehand, to avoid any negative effects that the incident might bring about in public opinion and solidarity groups around the world advocating for Alex Saab’s freedom. According to some analysts, this latest revelation may add another reason to the list for Alex Saab’s unprecedented persecution by the US regime.
Featured image: Alex Saab, during a Miami court hearing in December 2021. Photo: Daniel Pontet/Reuters.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by Jesús Rodríguez Espinoza
OT/JRE/DD/SL
Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza
Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza is an expert in international relations, Venezuelan politics, and communication. He served for several years as Consul General of Venezuela in Chicago (United States); before that, he was part of the foundational editorial team of Aporrea.org. He is the founder and editor of the Venezuelan anti-imperialist news outlet Orinoco Tribune.
