Above photo: Urban signs like this demanding #FreeAlexSaab can be seen in the streets of Venezuela more often. Florantonia Singer | El País.
The plot around the kidnapping of the Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab in Cape Verde peaks, intensifies and continues to be a trending topic on Twitter, while the United States government relentlessly applies pressure to bring the diplomat to its territory.
Meanwhile, social media networks again reflect opinions about the case—#EEUUCompraCaboVerde was a trending topic in Venezuela this Wednesday, March 31. This, with respect to the most recent movements of Washington through a policy that, in general, is based on blackmail and financial suffocation.
The complaints about new agreements signed between the US government and Cape Verdean authorities have been portrayed as the conversion of that island country of Africa into a new “Colombia.” All this occurs in reference to the political and military interference of the White House.
In this regard, the government of Cape Verde itself reported on the recent signing of a memorandum with the United States. With the document, both parties pledged to promote common defense and security interests based on “shared democratic values.”
The conviction against Alex Saab
Another of the curiosities of the Biden administration regarding the persecution that the US government itself undertook against the Venezuelan diplomat, Alex Saab, was revealed in decisions announced by Washington that do not make their intention clear.
For example, this Wednesday, March 31, the United States Department of the Treasury decided to withdraw the sanctions that Donald Trump issued, before handing over the presidency, on a group of companies allegedly linked to Alex Saab under the name of Di Alessandro Bazzoni.
Likewise, the measure comes a few days after courts in Switzerland desisted in continuing their investigation of Saab, because there was no evidence that the official committed any irregularity.
However, although everything indicates that the alleged accusations against Alex Saab continue to fall, the Venezuelan citizen remains kidnapped in Cape Verde with the pending threat of a very probable extradition to the United States.
In this new phase, questions are raised about the impact that the new memorandum with the African nation will have. It opens the doors for the United States to determine who can be singled out as allegedly guilty of “organized crime, money laundering or financing of terrorism,” something that the Alex Saab case has shown can mean any regular person.