I am not detained. I am kidnapped since June 12, 2020.
Saab alleges physical torture over seven months, solitary confinement, and psychological abuse while detained in Cape Verde despite a regional court ruling his capture illegal. The businessman claims Cape Verde and the U.S. coordinated his detention without proper legal procedures, and that Venezuela's diplomatic immunity claim was ignored by authorities.
- Detained June 12, 2020, in Cape Verde; extradition authorized March 17, 2021
- Saab claims seven months of torture, solitary confinement, 25-kilogram weight loss
- Regional court (CEDEAO) ruled his capture illegal; Cape Verde proceeded with extradition anyway
- Venezuela named him Special Envoy and ambassador after arrest; immunity claim ignored
Colombian businessman Alex Saab, detained in Cape Verde since June 2020 and facing U.S. extradition on money laundering charges, claims his arrest is an illegal kidnapping involving torture and denies being Nicolás Maduro's front man.
On June 12, 2020, a private plane touched down in Cape Verde to refuel. The aircraft had departed from Russia and was headed toward Iran. When it landed on the African island, authorities boarded the plane and detained the passenger: Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman. He was taken without shoes, he would later say, and the pilot was forced to leave the island. That detention, now nearly ten months old, has become the subject of fierce dispute—Saab insists it was not an arrest but a kidnapping, orchestrated by Cape Verde in coordination with the United States.
Saab stands accused by American prosecutors of being a front man for Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela's president, and of laundering money on behalf of the Venezuelan government. His name appeared on the Clinton List, a U.S. sanctions designation for suspected corruption and financial crimes tied to the Maduro regime. But when he was taken into custody that June morning, Saab says no arrest warrant was shown to him, no Interpol red notice presented. The detention officer, Natalio Correira, acted without authorization from Cape Verde's attorney general, José Landim, according to Saab's account. The Interior Minister and National Security Chief, Carlos Resis, and Prime Minister Ulisses Correira all participated in what Saab characterizes as an unlawful seizure—one that should have ended the next day when Venezuela invoked diplomatic immunity after naming him Special Envoy and plenipotentiary ambassador.
On March 17, 2021, Cape Verde's Supreme Court authorized Saab's extradition to the United States. This decision came despite a ruling by the Economic Community of West African States (CEDEAO), a regional court, that his capture was illegal. Speaking from his place of confinement through written responses to a Colombian newspaper, Saab detailed what he describes as systematic abuse. For seven months, he says, he was held in conditions the U.S. State Department itself characterized as life-threatening. He was tortured physically on three separate occasions and subjected to psychological torment. He was left in darkness on a cell floor, which he says damaged his eyesight—he now requires glasses. He lost twenty-five kilograms of weight. His family was barred from visiting. He did not make a phone call until five months into his detention.
Saab is a cancer survivor, and he has requested consultation with an oncologist, a request that has been denied. He is now held in a house under heavy police guard, with drones monitoring his movements when he ventures into open spaces. He claims he was pressured to sign voluntary extradition documents and to provide false testimony against the Venezuelan government. He fears what awaits him in an American prison: COVID-19 outbreaks that he believes would be fatal given his health condition, and further torture if he refuses to divulge confidential information about Maduro's administration.
When asked about his diplomatic appointment—a designation that came after his detention—Saab denied it was a response to his capture. He has worked with the Venezuelan government since 2011, he said, first under Hugo Chávez and then under Maduro, who appointed him Special Envoy in 2018. On December 24, 2020, while already imprisoned, Maduro named him Alternate Permanent Representative to the African Union. Saab also addressed his relationship with Abelardo de la Espriella, a lawyer who had represented him. De la Espriella remains his friend, Saab said, and their professional relationship ended years ago; political differences do not diminish his respect for the man's credentials and character.
On the substance of the charges themselves, Saab flatly denies being Maduro's front man. The Venezuelan president, he argues, has no need for such intermediaries. He describes Maduro as an upright leader focused on his people's welfare, one who has shown remarkable leadership in the face of unprecedented American sanctions and what Saab calls dirty political tricks. He expressed honor in assisting Maduro's efforts to secure Venezuela's wellbeing. His hope now rests on Cape Verde accepting the CEDEAO ruling, which he contends is binding on the island nation and requires his release based on the irregularities in his arrest and detention. Whether that hope will materialize remains uncertain as the extradition machinery moves forward.
Notable Quotes
I was kidnapped by Cape Verde in collusion with the U.S., held for seven months in conditions the State Department itself called life-threatening, tortured from day one, and pressured to sign voluntary extradition documents and provide false testimony against my government.— Alex Saab, in written responses to El Espectador
President Maduro is an upright person concerned only with the wellbeing of the Venezuelan people. He has shown incredible leadership in the face of unprecedented U.S. sanctions and dirty political tricks.— Alex Saab
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
When Saab's plane landed in Cape Verde, did anyone present him with legal documentation—a warrant, a red notice?
No. He says the detention officer acted without the attorney general's authorization, and the arrest warrant didn't appear until the day after. That's the core of his kidnapping claim.
But he was on a U.S. sanctions list. Doesn't that give Cape Verde grounds to hold him?
Perhaps, but the regional court—CEDEAO—ruled the capture itself was illegal. The question isn't whether he's guilty of the charges; it's whether the process was lawful. Saab argues it wasn't.
He claims torture. What kind of evidence supports that?
He describes physical beatings, solitary confinement in darkness, denial of medical care for cancer, a twenty-five-kilogram weight loss, vision damage. No independent medical examination is mentioned in his account, but the U.S. State Department apparently acknowledged the detention conditions were life-threatening.
Why would Venezuela name him ambassador after he was already arrested?
That's the puzzle. He says it wasn't a response to his capture—that he'd been working with Maduro since 2018. But the timing looks strategic, an attempt to claim diplomatic immunity and force his release.
Did it work?
No. Cape Verde ignored the immunity claim and proceeded with extradition anyway. That's what Saab means when he says the process was rigged from the start.
What does he fear most about extradition to the U.S.?
Two things: COVID in American prisons, which he believes would kill him given his health, and torture if he refuses to testify against Maduro. He's betting that staying silent about the Venezuelan government is worth the risk of dying in custody.