Venezuela: Russia threatens to condition dialogue in Mexico if Alex Saab is extradited to the United States

After the justice of Cape Verde allow the extradition of Alex Saab to the United States, Russia threatens condition the dialogue that Chavismo and the opposition lead in Mexico if the leader of Nicolás Maduro is transferred to the North American country.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry of the government of Vladimir Putin said that “Russia, as a country that supports the negotiation process between the government of Venezuela and the unitary opposition platform, invariably calls on all members of the international community to contribute to creating the most favorable and constructive environment around the dialogue currently taking place in Mexico City”.

“In this sense, certain actions of external actors awaken to worry, which present risks of undermine fragile trust which has been developed between the parties, ”the statement said.

The letter states that “in particular, we would like to draw attention again to the situation around the special envoy of the government of Venezuela A. Saab. As you know, in June 2020, he was detained at the request of the United States by the Cape Verdean police. Since then, Washington has exercised a High pressure on the Cape Verdean authorities and the judicial system of this country in order to obtain his extradition ”.

“We consider that the criminal prosecution of A. Saab, who has diplomatic status and carried out a humanitarian mission, is politically motivated», Explained the Ministry of External Relations.

In this sense, it was pointed out that ‘leaving the legal aspects of this problem out of the brackets, there is on the surface a clear projection of the line on the’culmination‘of the A. Saab case on the dialogue process underway in Mexico City. Now, when important issues are substantively discussed there and to one degree or another they affect US policy toward Venezuela, Washington is in fact trying to use A. Saab as a lever for additional pressure on the Venezuelan government. We see this as a serious threat to the efforts of the parties to find mutually acceptable paths for the future development of this country ”.

“We stress that only Venezuelans themselves can determine their own destiny and are able to overcome the existing differences in Venezuelan society during a political process of mutual respect.. We consider it important to give Venezuelans the opportunity to make this decision for themselves. Attempts at destructive external interference are inappropriate here, the responsibility for the consequences of such actions will lie with those who carry them out directly or indirectly, ”the statement concluded.

On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court of Cape Verde considered constitutional extradition to the United States of Saab, claimed by Washington for suspected money laundering.

The court, the highest judicial body in the African island country, where Saab has been detained since June 2020 at the request of the United States, ruled “unfair“The appeal made by the defense against alleged unconstitutionality of the arrest of the businessman to try to stop his extradition.

The Constitutional Court has published on its official website a resolution of 194 pages in which he responds to the appeal in which Saab alleged, according to the court, that during the extradition proceedings “Unconstitutional rules have been applied.”

The court agreed with two lower courts, the Barlavento Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Justice, who had already authorized in 2020 and last March, respectively, the delivery of the alleged leader in the North American country. In practice, stopping the TC gives way to extradition.

Likewise, the Constitutional Court endorsed the position of the Cape Verdean government, which already last year gave its resounding approval to extradition.

(With information from EFE)

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