The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, assured this Monday that he will evaluate "What is going to happen" with the open dialogue with the opposition after the extradition to the United States of Colombian businessman Álex Saab – defended as a diplomat by the Venezuelan Government -, of course money laundering.
"Then we will evaluate what will happen with those dialogues, then we will evaluate. For now, we are outraged and protesting and facing injustice, later we will see"he said during an act of his party partially broadcast by the state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).
The Colombian businessman was arrested on June 12, 2020 in Cape Verde, Africa, under an arrest warrant issued through Interpol by the US and was extradited to the North American country on Saturday.
Saab is charged with seven counts of laundering and one more of conspiracy to launder and, in addition, since May 2019, it has been sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury.
Despite being a prisoner in Cape Verde, he had been appointed as a member of the Venezuelan government commission in the negotiations with the opposition. After his extradition, the Venezuelan government suspended the talks, although it did not definitively cancel them.
In this regard, Maduro reiterated today his defense of dialogue, "but playing fair", "respecting the rules of the game" and "respecting the adversary".
"With the kidnapping of Alex Saab, quite simply, the US and the Pitiyanki opposition (in favor of the US) of the Unitary Platform broke all the rules of the game of respect, of coexistence", I consider.
About the US Government, he assured that "now they are going to go out to give it to them in little ways" and rejected the words of the State Department spokesman, Ned Price, who in his daily press conference criticized the Maduro Executive for interrupting the dialogue and putting the Saab case on "above" of the "welfare of millions of Venezuelans".
"An idiot from the State Department comes out to say the same words as (the head of the opposition delegation) Gerardo Blyde. Fool. And that Maduro is not interested in the interests of the country, of Venezuela, he is very interested in the interests of the country", he ironized.
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