Alex Saab, the embattled aide to Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, has been extradited from Cape Verde to the United States to face charges bordering on money laundering, Peoples Gazette reports.
The announcement was made by Socialist party legislator, Jorge Rodriguez, who heads the government’s negotiating team.
The recent development, which has been described by the Venezuelan government as a deliberate “kidnapping” case, has compelled the country to suspend negotiations with the US government, billed to commence on Sunday in Mexico.
The proposed talks is centred around finding a resolution to the political crisis that led to violence and the collapse of the South American country’s economy.
Although Saab was selected among government’s negotiating team in talks with the opposition in Mexico, he has been found guilty by the U.S. Treasury of using his accounts in American banks to launder the proceeds of corruption.
Recall that Saab was arrested and detained on alleged corruption by Interpol and security operatives on a U.S. arrest warrant in June last year, when his plane made a stopover to refuel in Cape Verde.
The embattled Saab, who was said to be travelling on an official mission to obtain medical supplies to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, denied all the charges and swore that they are politically motivated.
Venezuelan authorities have continued to call for Saab’s unconditional release, adding that he had diplomatic immunity when he was arrested.
The Economic Community of West African States Court had, in a ruling it gave on the 20th of December, 2020, ordered the Republic of Cape Verde to place Saab under permanent home detention in good conditions, including access to medical treatment and visits.
Things took a different dimension In April when the government of Venezuela was accused of contracting social media influencers on Twitter to incite Cape Verde against extraditing Saab to the U.S for investigation.
A number of Nigerian social media influencers and online bloggers were enlisted to launder Saab’s image and public perception to block his extradition.
A #FreeAlexSaab hashtag went viral amongst Nigerians on Twitter in mid-January.
The hashtag became a rallying cry that seeks to allegedly influence the ongoing court proceedings against Saab in Nigeria and Cape Verde, the African island nation where Saab is currently under house arrest.
Buzzfeed News said more than 1500 accounts were suspended in response to the investigation it was conducting with Digital Africa Research Lab that was manipulating the #FreeAlexSaab hashtag.
According to the report, the campaign involved Alpha Reach, Omojuwa’s PR firm, and a UK-based nonprofit called Digital Good Governance for Africa.
DIGA is a UK nonprofit led by Naji Makarem, an international development professor at University College London, and Christian Elemele, a Nigerian expat and social entrepreneur who previously studied at UCL.
A popular social media activist, Pamilerin Adegoke, tweeting as @UnclePamilerin), Tonto Dikeh (@Tontolet), Queen Mother (@rutie_xx), Sola (@Advsola), Karen King (@theKarenKing), Gbemi Dennis (@GbemiDennis) are some of the handles listed by BuzzFeed News to have participated in the campaign.
