Venezuela Denounces Arbitrary Arrest of Businessman Involved in Food Program, Demands His Release

On Saturday, the US Justice Department confirmed the arrest of Colombian-born Venezuelan national Alex Saab, a businessman involved in procuring foodstuffs for a Venezuelan food distribution and subsidies program known as ‘Local Committees for Supply and Production (Spanish acronym CLAP), in Cape Verde.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry has issued a communique denouncing the arbitrary, irregular and illegal arrest of businessman Alex Saab, calling the detention a violation of international law.

According to Caracas, Saab, acting as an agent of the Venezuelan government, was detained while in transit through Cape Verde with the mission of acquiring food, medicine, medical supplies and other goods for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Venezuela demands Saab’s immediate release, and the safeguarding of his fundamental rights, “beginning with due process.” Foreign Minister Arreaza called his detention “an addition to the aggression, blockade and harassment of the US against our country.”

Saab, 48, was detained on Friday on route from Venezuela to Iran during a refueling stop in Cape Verde. According to the Associated Press, a US government contractor formerly owned by Blackwater was standing by to take Saab from Cape Verde to Miami’s private Opa Locka airport using a chartered flight.

The US Justice Department claims Saab profited from overvalued contracts related to the CLAP food program, while the Treasury has slapped him and companies he is connected to with sanctions last summer.

Venezuela says that US restrictions against CLAP are a threat to the country’s food security. The program has helped around six million families (or more than 60 percent of the country’s population of 30 million) to obtain food for free and at subsidized prices, but has been vulnerable to foreign pressure because as much as 90 percent of the food is imported.

Saab’s detention is just the latest chapter in a years-long effort by the US government to weaken and topple Venezuela’s government. After spending much of the 2010s blockading the country financially, in January 2019, the US and its allies moved into an active phase of trying to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro by recognizing opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido as the country’s ‘interim president’, slapping tough sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports, and seizing billions of dollars’ worth of the nation’s assets abroad.

Sourse: sputniknews.com