US court began listening to ally Nicolas Madura
2022.12.12 12:30
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US court began listening to ally Nicolas Madura
Budrigannews.com – On Monday, Venezuelan officials began giving evidence to a U.S. court regarding Alex Saab’s diplomatic status. Saab is an ally of President Nicolas Maduro and is currently being held in a Miami jail while awaiting trial on a charge of money laundering.
Saab’s attorneys have requested that U.S. District Judge Robert Scola dismiss the charge, arguing that Saab was arrested while his plane was refueling in the Cape Verde islands in the Atlantic Ocean while he was on a diplomatic mission to Iran to purchase fuel and humanitarian supplies.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Saab, a businessman from Colombia who was extradited from Cape Verde in 2021, stole approximately $350 million from Venezuela through the United States as part of a bribery scheme.
Maria Gonzalez, an official at the foreign ministry’s archive, appeared at the hearing via Zoom. When she was shown documents that referred to Saab as a diplomat, she said that they were genuine.
Gonzalez referred to the former foreign minister, saying, “It is a letter that Minister Jorge Arreaza grants to Mr. Alex Saab where he gives his character as a special envoy to carry out negotiations for the purchase of food and medicine.”
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The prosecution disputes the veracity of the documents provided by the defense, arguing that Saab should not be recognized as a diplomat.
A digital copy of an Official Gazette, a government publication that lists appointments to the Venezuelan government, was altered to include his designation as a diplomat, according to the prosecution, while the original document does not make such a reference.
Prosecutors stated that the evidence presented by Saab’s defense only demonstrated that he held the status of a “special mission” diplomat, which does not confer diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention.
Allies of Maduro have said that Washington’s pursuit of Saab is part of an “economic war” against Venezuela that the US government is fighting. Washington considers Maduro’s reelection in 2018 to be fraudulent, and the following year, it imposed oil and financial sanctions on the nation with the intention of removing him.
