European Parliament Deputy Manu Pineda at the Peoples Summit: Free Alex Saab; People’s Summit in Brussels condemned kidnapping of Alex Saab

European Parliament Deputy Manu Pineda at the Peoples Summit: Free Alex Saab

Manu Pineda desde Cumbre de los Pueblos: Free Alex Saab

In extending his solidarity to the people and government of Venezuela in the face of imperial aggression, during his speech at the Peoples’ Summit in Brussels, European Parliament deputy [MEP] Manu Pineda made a special mention to the Bolivarian diplomat Alex Saab, kidnapped by the empire for the “crime” of having “taken measures to circumvent the blockade that is suffocating Venezuela, for having taken medicines, fuel, food to Venezuela, the empire cannot allow that and they are holding him prisoner! Free Alex Saab! Free Alex Saab!

“All our support to our Venezuelan sisters and brothers, to President Nicolás Maduro, to Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, to a people who are suffering the consequences of not obeying the empire, who made the ‘grave error’ of electing a government at the service of the people and not a lackey of the empire. They are suffering everything, they have been put in an experiment box, they are inventing forms of dirty war specifically for Venezuela”, expressed the Spanish deputy before the European Parliament.

Pineda affirmed that in that space, where the presidents of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel; of Bolivia, Luis Arce and of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, were present, is the true voice of the peoples; the people who are fighting every day for the interests of the most and not at the service of the least, during his participation in the Peoples’ Summit, which is being held in the Belgian capital in parallel to the III Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU).

The European Parliament deputy also expressed his solidarity with the people of Peru in view of the removal of Professor Pedro Castillo as President-elect and with the Cuban people and their revolution.

He highlighted the proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a land of peace, decreed by the Celac, pointing out that the way to advocate for peace is not by sending weapons to war but by betting on politics and diplomacy.

Tribunal against the blockade of Cuba
Within the framework of the Peoples’ Summit, European, Latin American and U.S. jurists, social, trade union and political organizations launched the call for an International Tribunal against the Blockade of Cuba.

The leader of the Party of the European Left (PIE), Maite Mola, accompanied by some twenty representatives of associations, read the call for the Tribunal to be held on November 16-17 in the Belgian capital.

In this regard, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, welcomed the summons to the international tribunal next November to denounce the economic blockade against the Caribbean nation.

“We are sure that the most forceful denunciation of the genocidal and criminal nature of the blockade and the denunciation of including Cuba in the spurious list of alleged State sponsors of terrorism will come out of that tribunal,” the president denounced during his participation in the plenary session of the Peoples’ Summit.

He added that “it will also be an opportunity to denounce the extraterritorial effects of the blockade on European citizens and companies which have worsened with the entry into force of Title Three of the Helms-Burton Act”.

The Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, sent a message of reflection on the need to make an analysis of today’s world in order to establish a process of change and the role of Latin America in that context.

“Latin America and the Caribbean need Europe just as Europe needs Latin America and the Caribbean, even more so in a context of energy crisis (…) Undoubtedly, the resources of Latin America and the Caribbean can contribute to save Europe, however, in this opportunity we are not going to give them away”, emphasized Bolivian President Luis Arce.

People’s Summit in Brussels condemned kidnapping of Alex Saab

Cumbre de los Pueblos en Bruselas condenó secuestro de Alex Saab

In its final declaration, the 2023 People’s Summit, which concluded this Tuesday in Brussels, Belgium, condemned the kidnapping by the United States of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab.

The document “specifically condemns the kidnapping and arbitrary detention of the Bolivarian diplomat, Alex Saab, by the Government of the United States (USA), when he was carrying out humanitarian work abroad, obtaining medicine and food for lessen the criminal impact of unilateral coercive measures on the Venezuelan people. We demand their immediate release!”

During the event that takes place in parallel with the III Summit between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU), representatives of international social movements, MEPs and social leaders reviewed the case and demanded that the US Government his immediate release.

Fravia Márquez, representative of the Free Alex Saab International Movement , made a chronology from the arbitrary arrest on the African island of Cape Verde on June 12, 2020, when he made a stopover on his flight to Iran to refuel and in violation of his immunity diplomatically, authorities from that country forcefully took him off the plane, without having an arrest warrant, and he was physically tortured for seven months.

He expressed that it is not only an arbitrary detention, but that it involves a father of five children, a human being, husband, son. “We turn to you, the just and the noble, to raise your voice so that Alex returns home with his family, alive, because they do not want to return him alive,” said an emotional intervention at one point. of the.

Judicial persecution of wife
Márquez also referred to the persecution of the human rights defender and wife of the diplomat, Camila Fabri, an Italian national and coordinator of the Movement, harassment that has even gone so far as to use patriarchal stereotypes, also disqualifying her for a gender theme.

He asserted that the Special Envoy of Venezuela to Iran, accredited in 2018, manages to have a medical visit a year after his kidnapping and “the medical report is devastating”, which is aggravated by his condition as a stomach cancer survivor.

Regarding his illegal extraction to the United States on October 16, 2021, the representative of the Free Movement Alex Saab affirmed that the authorities of that country were aware of the diplomatic status of the kidnapped person, according to Mark Esper, former Secretary of Defense during the management of Donald Trump, in his book “A Sacred Oath”.

The former secretary recounted in his work that “under the direction of Maduro, Saab would have been on a Special Mission to negotiate an agreement with Iran so that Venezuela receives more fuel, food and medical supplies. Saab was Maduro’s right-hand man when it came to crafting the economic deals and other transactions that kept the regime afloat.”

At the end of the forum, Mónica Valente, representative of the National Executive Commission of the Workers’ Party (PT) of Brazil, closed with a “Free Alex Saab” that was replicated throughout the auditorium.

At another table also related to Venezuela, the Vice Minister of Anti-Blockade Policies, William Castillo; the president of MRC Europe, Margarita Guerrero (Ecuador); the lawyer Mauricio Valiente and Lourdes Huanca (Peru).