Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Cape Verde: Ulisses Correia Admits Kidnapping of Alex Saab was an Exchange for Cooperative Security
Orinoco Tribune
11 May 2022
Cape Verde: Ulisses Correia Admits Kidnapping of Alex Saab was an Exchange for Cooperative Security
Alex Saab in Custody (Photo: Perfil.com)

The Trump and Biden administrations violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations by arresting and kidnapping Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Cape Verde was under U.S. pressure to participate in the crime.

This article was originally published in Orinoco Tribune.

The Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia, admitted that the kidnapping and delivery of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab was the product of a compromise between the African nation and the United States government.

Correia’s response, after the Cape Verdean government’s authorization to arbitrarily transfer Alex Saab to Miami, was due to the international commitments that are convenient for the small island nation, as indicated in a press release.

“We are a country with international commitments (sic)… We have to give something in return for our participation in cooperative security,” the prime minister said, according to research by US writer, lawyer and professor Dan Kovalik.

With regards to the annual International Conference of the Court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which will be held from May 9—12 in Cape Verde under the premise of ECOWAS integration model: the legal implications of regionalism, sovereignty and supranationalism, Kovalik recalls in an article that the decisions made by the highest court of ECOWAS on the immediate release of the Venezuelan diplomat were violated by the government of Cape Verde, where they will now hold an international meeting on international law in this region.

According to the lawyer: “The economic community of West African states can best be described as a West African version of the European Union. However, unlike the EU, the level of integration remains limited and mired in regional and bilateral disagreements.”

He also added that, “the actions of the Cape Verdean regime of Ulisses Correia on the issue of Venezuela’s Special Envoy Alex Saab, between June 2020 and October 2021, were motivated solely by a desire to do whatever was necessary to please the United States in its pursuit of well documented politically motivated hegemony against Venezuela.”

Cape Verde left a stain on the whole of Africa
The lies and half-truths told by Cape Verde during the kidnapping of Alex Saab, according to Femi Falana, “left a stain on all of Africa.”

Falana, a renowned Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist, who is considered by many to be the Father of the Court, explained this statement by saying that “often a person would be detained for months or even years awaiting the end of a local court case in one of the member states of ECOWAS.”

He added that, “this was a tool to keep someone in prison with limited access to justice. The clause in the ECOWAS Rules of Procedure Court that allows a plaintiff to request an appeal even before domestic remedies have been exhausted is one way to achieve this.”

The ECOWAS Court ruled that the Special Envoy of Venezuela to Iran, Alex Saab, should be released, as well as the suspension of the extradition process requested by the United States. In addition, the Court estimated compensation for the Venezuelan diplomat for the damages caused during his illegal detention in Cape Verde.

“But here we are on the eve of the most important annual meeting of the Court, and this one takes place in (drumroll please!)… Cape Verde! Giving Cape Verde the opportunity to boast of its self-proclaimed position as ‘the model of African democracy’ which amounts to a self-flagellation of those who made the decision to hold the conference in Cape Verde,” said Dan Kovalik.

The international community watched in amazement as Cape Verde became even more involved with the United States, ignoring a binding decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (which ordered the cessation of the extradition process against Saab), as well as the considerations of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and warning letters from four UN Working Groups and one from the Special Rapporteur of that organization.

ECOWAS is based in the Nigerian capital of Abuja and Nigeria is by far the largest financial contributor to the group. One notable, perhaps even surprising, area in which significant progress towards integration has been made has been the resolution of trade and human rights disputes through the ECOWAS Court of Justice or The Court, established in 1993.

ECOWAS
Alex Saab
Cape Verde
Venezuela

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

The PAIGC’s Political Education for Liberation in Guinea-Bissau, 1963–74 (Part 1)
The Tricontinental
The PAIGC’s Political Education for Liberation in Guinea-Bissau, 1963–74 (Part 1)
20 July 2022
Liberation struggles are not fought only on the battlefield.
Venezuela Celebrates Petro’s Win in Colombia as US Loses its Latin America ‘Bastion’
José Luis Granados Ceja
Venezuela Celebrates Petro’s Win in Colombia as US Loses its Latin America ‘Bastion’
22 June 2022
The election victory of Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez in Colombia has implications for relations with other nations, such as neighboring Ve
For the Peoples of our Region, the Failure of Biden’s Summit of the Americas Would be a Welcome Event
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
For the Peoples of our Region, the Failure of Biden’s Summit of the Americas Would be a Welcome Event
08 June 2022
The Summit of the Americas is not the property of the host nation. The U.S.
Summit of the Americas: US Policy of Exclusion Undermines its Own Hegemonic Aspirations
Frederick Mills and William Camacaro
Summit of the Americas: US Policy of Exclusion Undermines its Own Hegemonic Aspirations
24 May 2022
The U.S.
The Black Alliance for Peace Calls on Latin American and Caribbean Nations to Boycott the Summit of the Americas
Black Alliance For Peace
The Black Alliance for Peace Calls on Latin American and Caribbean Nations to Boycott the Summit of the Americas
18 May 2022
The failure of the U.S.
Summit of the Americas in ‘Danger’ as Caribbean States Threaten Boycott Over Cuba and Venezuela Exclusion
José Luis Granados Ceja
Summit of the Americas in ‘Danger’ as Caribbean States Threaten Boycott Over Cuba and Venezuela Exclusion
11 May 2022
The U.S. has not invited Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua to attend the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California.
Venezuela Continues To Be the Model for True Democracy in the Americas
Jacqueline Luqman
Venezuela Continues To Be the Model for True Democracy in the Americas
03 May 2022
The 2002 attempted coup against Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was undone because of popular action.
The Venezuela Coup 20 Years Later
Dan Beeton
The Venezuela Coup 20 Years Later
26 April 2022
The legacy of Venezuela’s short-lived 2002 coup d’etat, and the subsequent countercoup, endures for US-Latin American relations.
US’s Flaunting of Diplomatic Immunity Challenged in Court –  Imprisoned Venezuelan Diplomat Contests Extraterritorial Judicial Abuse
Roger D. Harris
US’s Flaunting of Diplomatic Immunity Challenged in Court – Imprisoned Venezuelan Diplomat Contests Extraterritorial Judicial Abuse
12 April 2022
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations protects the rights of Alex Saab.
Illegally Imprisoned Venezuelan Diplomat Faces US Court Amid a Shifting Global Context
Roger D. Harris
Illegally Imprisoned Venezuelan Diplomat Faces US Court Amid a Shifting Global Context
06 April 2022
Alex Saab’s April 6 hearing takes place in the setting of a mercurial world situation, where events in Ukraine may have indirect bearing on his

More Stories


  • Black Agenda Radio March 31, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio March 31, 2023
    31 Mar 2023
    20th anniversary of Iraq invasion and the Ukraine proxy war, immigration policies remain unchanged, and New York prosecutors discriminate against prospective jurors of color.
  • Ray McGovern Connects Anniversary of Iraq Invasion and Ukraine Proxy War - Part 2
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Ray McGovern Connects Anniversary of Iraq Invasion and Ukraine Proxy War - Part 2
    31 Mar 2023
    Ray McGovern served as a CIA analyst for 27 years, from the administration of John F. Kennedy to that of George H. W. Bush.
  • Biden's Punitive Immigration Policies - Part 2
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Biden's Punitive Immigration Policies - Part 2
    31 Mar 2023
    Aly Wane is on the advisory board of the Immigrant Justice Network.
  • New York Prosecutors Discriminate Against Jurors and Defendants of Color
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    New York Prosecutors Discriminate Against Jurors and Defendants of Color
    31 Mar 2023
    Ten ethics complaints were filed against prosecutors across New York state, alleging discrimination against prospective jurors of color.
  • INTERVIEW: Randall Robinson: Third World Advocate, 1983
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: Randall Robinson: Third World Advocate, 1983
    29 Mar 2023
    Remembering Randall Robinson: Black internationalist, anti-imperialist, and friend of Haiti.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us