Venezuelans rally in Caracas demanding freedom for diplomat Alex Saab, who is currently illegally detained in the US and requires urgent medical attention. Reuters/Leonardo Fernández Viloria.
The Free Alex Saab Movement requested urgent help from the international community due to the alarming state of health of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, illegally imprisoned in a US federal prison. As of Thursday, March 16, Saab has spent one year and five months in a Florida prison after his illegal extraction from Cape Verde on October 16, 2021 by US authorities.
The Free Alex Saab Movement, through a statement read by his wife, human rights defender Camilla Fabri Saab, stated that two months after Saab had been taken to the US, the UN Working Group Against Torture and four UN rapporteurs “expressed their concern about the irreparable deterioration of Alex Saab’s health condition.”
🔴 COMMUNICATION.#FreeAlexSaab Movement makes an "URGENT" call to the world to denounce the alarming and life-threatening current health condition of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab.#FreeAlexSaab@NicolasMaduro @JoeBiden @volker_turk @ONU_rights @antonioguterres pic.twitter.com/yWefCT0YYj
— Movimiento #FreeAlexSaab (@FreeAlexSaabOrg) March 16, 2023
The statement then explained that since his transfer to the US, the Venezuelan diplomat “has not received any medical attention according to the basic diseases that had been reported, ignoring the call of the UN rapporteurs” and the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR).
8 Years Since Obama Decree Against Venezuela & 1000 Days Since Alex Saab’s Kidnapping
International appeal
The Free Alex Saab Movement held the US government responsible for the alarming state of the Venezuelan diplomat’s health and called on the International Red Cross to visit the Federal Detention Center in Miami where he is being held and provide him the necessary medical attention.
🚨Contador de días de secuestro#Jueves 16 de Marzo de 2023
📌 se cumplen:
▪️1007 DÍAS desde su secuestro.
▪️516 DÍAS de secuestro en EE.UU#FreeAlexSaab#UnAñoDelFogonDeAlex @NicolasMaduro @JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/KeDh7jjwW0
— Movimiento #FreeAlexSaab (@FreeAlexSaabOrg) March 16, 2023
“Likewise, we urge the High Commissioner of the UN Human Rights to take action and denounce this violation of the human rights of the Venezuelan diplomat illegally detained in US territory,” the statement added.
The organization also called upon the Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres to make an announcement on Alex Saab’s situation in the secretary general’s purview as the highest defender of international law.
Appeal for medical attention
The Free Alex Saab Movement stated that, on July 7, 2021, while Saab was being detained in Cape Verde, he was visited by his family doctor, who diagnosed the diplomat with “anemia, anorexia, diabetes mellitus type 2, hypothyroidism, hypertension, high risk of thromboembolic disease including pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis.” The doctor also highlighted the presence of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori in Saab’s blood and bleeding from the digestive tract, which may indicate a recurrence of stomach cancer, given that Saab is a stomach cancer survivor.
The doctor also found that Saab’s lower left molar was broken, caused by the beatings he had been subjected to during the torture suffered in Cape Verde. The physician recommended that Saab be given access to proper medical care, but that recommendation was not followed by Cape Verde’s authorities.
Two months later, the doctor issued a new report highlighting the need for the diplomat to receive specialized medical care and asked the authorities of Cape Verde to take into consideration the need to preserve his health and vitality, but “Cape Verde did nothing in this regard,” the statement added.
Worse prison conditions in the US
Camilla Fabri Saab expressed her concern over the deterioration of Alex Saab’s health. “It is extremely alarming to learn that Alex has been vomiting blood for weeks and despite having reported it to the US authorities, there is still a lack of medical attention in the detention center,” she said. “Why has the US not bothered to treat him?”
Alex Saab salió en una misión de paz, en este mismo espíritu, seguimos dando una lucha amorosa por la defensa de Venezuela, por parar la injusticia que sufre un padre de familia secuestrado vilmente por motivaciones políticas.
Vamos a vencer. #FreeAlexSaab pic.twitter.com/hdkbHb1YjX
— Camilla Fabri Saab (@CamillaFSaab) March 16, 2023
“Everything indicates that the lack of medical attention is part of a State policy, as was his illegal arrest,” she added. “Could it be that they want to hand over my husband dead to the Venezuelan authorities? Why then the insistence on not providing him with medical attention, and not allowing his doctor to visit him?”
The Free Alex Saab Movement highlighted that the Venezuelan diplomat has not been allowed to see his family for two years and eight months. His family members have also been victims of persecution by the US authorities and their allies.
“Alex Saab has also not been allowed consular visits, which is a human right of every prisoner deprived of liberty,” the statement added. “The US State Department has not responded to the Venezuelan State’s request to grant him a consular visit, as established in Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.”
La libertad de Alex Saab es una batalla humanista con millones de trincheras por la dignidad. Uno no abandona a un compañero. @CamillaFSaab pic.twitter.com/kqdNvjRyQU
— Fernando Buen Abad D (@FBuenAbad) March 16, 2023
“We demand immediate freedom for Alex Saab Moran, the Venezuelan diplomat kidnapped in the territory of the United States,” expressed the Free Alex Saab Movement. “We urgently require a humanitarian, political, and diplomatic solution to this unjust situation.”
“We urge the US government to sit down and reach an agreement; Venezuela has shown to be open to a solution,” the statement concluded.
(RedRadioVE) by Victoria Torres
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/KZ
