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Cuba welcomes US release of Venezuelan diplomat

Published:Thursday | December 28, 2023 | 12:08 AM
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (centre, left) embraces Alex Saab after Saab arrived at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on Wednesday, December 20. The United States freed Saab, who was arrested on a US warrant for money laundering
AP
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (centre, left) embraces Alex Saab after Saab arrived at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on Wednesday, December 20. The United States freed Saab, who was arrested on a US warrant for money laundering in 2020, in exchange for the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in Venezuela, the Biden administration announced on Wednesday. Saab’s young daughter, Mariam, stands in front of him, wife Camila Fabri stands at centre right, and sons Isham (behind), Shadi (right), and Charlotte, partially covered behind Shadi.

HAVANA, (CMC):

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez has welcomed the release of Alex Saab, a Venezuelan diplomat who was arrested by the United States.

On his X account, formerly Twitter, Rodriguez said that Saab was released as a result of relentless claims by the Venezuelan government.

Saab was arrested in June 2020 during a stopover in Cape Verde en route to Iran, while in a diplomatic mission to negotiate oil deals and purchase medications and food for Venezuelans amid sanctions imposed by Washington and the European Union against Caracas.

The plane in which the diplomat was travelling made a technical stopover in the African island to refuel, but local authorities arrested him on the petition of Washington.

He was later extradited to the US in October 2021.

On Wednesday, the United States released Saab in exchange for that country sending home 10 American prisoners and a defence contractor at the centre of a massive bribery conspiracy that tainted the US Navy.

The Maduro government also released 20 political prisoners in Venezuela as part of the deal.