The businessman Álex Saab has said through a letter that he is being tortured daily by agents paid by the United States to make false statements against the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and to sign his “voluntary” extradition to the North American country.
The Spanish newpaper El Mundo reported this Wednesday, September 2, that he had “exclusive” access to a letter written by Saab from the cell where he is being held irregularly on the African island of Cape Verde, a country that detained him at the request of the United States without respecting his diplomatic immunity and legal international procedures.
“The United States has four employees who enter my cell every night and beat me to make false statements against Maduro (…) I have been tortured to testify against Nicolás Maduro and sign my voluntary extradition to the United States,” says part of the extracts of the letter reviewed by the Spanish media.
In the letter, Saab recalls that he is a special envoy from Venezuela to Russia and Iran, which is why he has diplomatic immunity and demands his release.
The businessman highlights that despite the torture to which he is subjected daily, he will not accept under any circumstances that they force him to tell lies about President Maduro, much less that he be transferred to the United States.
“I was tortured for two days to make me sign a statement and I refused (…) The purpose of these criminals is for me to sign the voluntary extradition to the United States and make false statements against President Maduro and his family,” says Saab, who adds that “not even with blood” is he willing to “sign those lies and slander against a president who is fighting to save his people in the midst of an inhuman blockade.”
The government of Donald Trump accuses Saab, without having proof, of an alleged laundering of 350 million dollars from “acts of corruption” that it attributes to the Venezuelan president through the American financial system.
In reality Saab is a businessman that has helped the Venezuelan government to circumvent US sanctions and keep alive the international food supply for the CLAP program, a government program that delivers food almost for free to more than 6 million Venezuelan household every month.
Under these weak allegations, the businessman was arrested on June 12 when his plane stopped to refuel at the Amilcar Cabral international airport on the island of Sal, the most important in Cape Verde.
The arrest came at the request of the United States, despite the fact that the interpol alert was issued a day later by Interpol.
In fact, Saab’s defense maintains that Interpol’s warrant is false because it is dated one day after his arrest and therefore considers it to be invalid.
“I have been a diplomat since April 2018 as a special envoy of Venezuela for Russia and Iran with diplomatic inviolability and immunity and I demand my immediate release,” Saab claims in the letter, where he reiterated that he was “arbitrarily detained in Cape Verde and taken off the plane.”
“I was going to Iran on an official visit in search of food, medicine and gasoline to alleviate a crisis worsened by the empire (…) the gasoline already arrived in Venezuela, as all the media announced, arousing even more hatred from the United States,” emphasizes the businessman.
Featured image: File photo.
Translation: OT/JRE/EF
