- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmygrad.ml
Delcy Rodriguez’s government extradited former minister Alex Saab, according to the government itself, to the United States, the country seeking him and where he could play a decisive role in the trial former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is facing there.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Saab allegedly participated in schemes involving government contracts, gold exports, imports of subsidized food, and international money transfers intended to financially sustain Chavismo amid the sanctions imposed by Washington.
Sources close to the case maintain that the businessman could provide relevant information about how Venezuelan resources were moved through companies in different countries and who participated in alleged money laundering operations, and he could be key in the case against Maduro, who is accused in the United States of conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and other federal crimes.
The possibility that Saab may decide to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors is causing concern among former members of Chavismo. For years, the businessman was part of the Venezuelan power structure’s inner circle and had access to sensitive negotiations related to oil, food, gold, and international agreements promoted by Caracas.
I do not.lile the revelation tbat Maduro was the thing holding Venezuelan socialism together, the one principled man in government.
Maduro was such a vital piece in the Cuban survival and the Palestinian solidarity in Latin America.
Unfortunately there’s a common theme with this kind of thing in Latin America. Imperialists just have too much influence and control over everything.
It’s also a very hard thing to break free from, when the only thing that enables governance for centuries has been clientelism and graft.
A choice many socdem governments in latam face is between uprooting all corruption and essentially doing cultural revolution with latam characteristics, leading to short term suffering for the people and resistance from these local power brokers, finally getting coup’d (with a little help from the CIA), or implement change while wielding the power structure currently in place, and letting some people skim off the top as long as it means children can eat, schools are running, and hospitals are built.
The Commune system is still there, so it’s not like it’s wholly up in smoke. But US Imperialism has its tendrils so deep in Latin America that it’s easy to, if not topple a Socialist state in the region, to at least twist its arm and compromise it.
I do think it’s telling that Trump merely kidnapped Maduro though. As if US Imperialism can’t even fully commit to its favorite past time of overthrowing a democratically elected Socialist state in Latin America