I was the victim of kidnapping and torture in Cape Verde: Alex Saab

Colombian businessman Alex Saab assured on Thursday in the third episode of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s podcast that he was the victim of a “kidnapping” and “torture” in Cape Verde, where he was held from June 2020 until his death. extradition to the United States in October the following year.

Saab, together with his wife Camilla Fabri, reported that on the African island, where the plane he was traveling on stopped to refuel, some “officials” entered “aggressively”, took him out “without shoes”, and told him that they were putting him ‘a hood’ and took him to a part of the airport, where – he said – they took a credit card from him to pay for an ‘entry visa’.

“It became clear that there had never been an arrest warrant from Interpol or an arrest warrant from Cape Verde that had received him from the United States. There was nothing. It was a kidnapping,” said Saab, who stated that he later committed a series of crimes undergo. “torture.”

In one center where he was held, he said, he was “incommunicado” and in “the worst conditions” because – he noted – there was no toilet and he had to “relieve himself” in a bucket , the contents of which he could throw away ‘once a day’.

He assured that during his detention in this African country, they had asked him to “voluntarily” sign his extradition to the United States, where upon his arrival he would have to make some “statements against the government of Venezuela” and help “stop the arrival of food, medicine and gasoline” to the South American country to “topple” the Maduro government.

About his detention in the United States, he said that for the last two days before his release he was in a “special glass cell” with a temperature of “minus 10 degrees (…) without food, without water” and “without knowledge” . what happened.”

The businessman was arrested in Cape Verde on June 12, 2020 following a US request through Interpol for alleged money laundering, after which Caracas noted that Saab was appointed special envoy to carry out official missions in Iran in 2018.

He was later extradited to the US, charged with money laundering conspiracy. He was also wanted by Colombian authorities for conspiracy to commit a crime, illegal enrichment, fictitious export and import, and aggravated fraud.

On the same day of his release, and after arriving in Caracas, the businessman was received with hugs at the presidential palace of Miraflores, the headquarters of the Venezuelan executive branch, by Maduro, who described him as “a courageous and patriotic man.”