The Venezuelan diplomat who has been extradited to the United States will appear before the Miami-Escambrai Courts

Caracas believes that the official was illegally detained due to political pressure from Washington, when he was on a diplomatic mission

Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, who was extradited to the United States after 491 days of detention in Cape Verde, will appear on Monday in a Florida court, the Justice Department reported.

Justice Ministry spokeswoman Nicole Navas-Oxman said Saab’s extradition “was carried out in full compliance with all Cape Verdean laws and relevant court rulings”, but the Venezuelan government claims the opposite.

Caracas believes that the official was illegally arrested in mid-2020 and without an arrest warrant due to political pressure from Washington, when he was on a diplomatic mission to bring food to the people of Venezuela.

This was also stated by his defense lawyer in a video statement in which he denounced Saab’s “kidnapping” by the United States and that his extradition “violates” Cape Verdean rules and international law.

In 2018, the Venezuelan government adopted him as a special envoy whose tasks are to facilitate access to medical and food supplies and other goods, in the face of obstacles imposed by the US blockade of the South American country.

According to complaints from the Bolivarian executive authority, the arrest came in response to the siege campaign organized by the previous US administration against Venezuela, in order to inflict more suffering on the people and destabilize their institutions and their internal system.

Washington charges him with seven counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit the crime. In addition, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on him for his alleged participation in alleged corruption schemes.

The Venezuelan government delegation to the dialogue table with the “unilateral forum of the opposition” announced the day before the decision to suspend its participation in the next round of talks in response to Saab’s handover.