Ana Belén Montes, an Exemplary Hero, Will be Freed

Stansfield Smith On January 8, 2023 the US has to release one of its many political prisoners, most being fighters against its repression of Third World peoples. Ana Belén Montes, heroic defender of Cuba’s sovereignty, will be freed after over 21 years in a federal military prison. She was a top official on Latin America…

U.S. Judge Rules Alex Saab Not Entitled to Diplomatic Immunity

Robert Scola, a federal judge in Miami (Florida, USA) ruled that the Colombian-Venezuelan businessman Álex Saab, described in most corporate media as a front man for the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, is not entitled to diplomatic immunity, so he should be tried on charges of money laundering. In his 15-page ruling, Scola argued that…

Day 3 Closing Arguments in Legal Hearing Concerning US Political Prisoner Alex Saab’s Diplomatic Status

Stansfield Smith After day one and day two of the hearing, December 12-13, the case of Alex Saab’s diplomatic immunity wrapped up on the third day, December 20. Judge Robert Scola in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida will make his decision by the end of this month. Saab’s defense explained…

Saab Oral Argument Focuses on Legitimacy of Maduro Government

Dan Kovalik On December 12 to 13, 2022, an evidentiary hearing in the case of The United States v. Alex Saab was heard before Judge Robert Scola in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. In “Saab Hearing Proves He Deserves Diplomatic Immunity, Exposes Prosecution’s Duplicity”, I summarize the key facts presented by Alex…

Saab Hearing Proves He Deserves Diplomatic Immunity, Exposes Prosecution’s Duplicity

Daniel Kovalik On December 12 to 13, 2022, an evidentiary hearing in the case of The United States v. Alex Saab was heard before Judge Robert Scola in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.  The only issue in the hearing was the question of whether Mr. Saab is entitled to diplomatic immunity, a…

Day 2 of Legal Hearing Concerning US Political Prisoner Alex Saab’s Diplomatic Status

Stansfield Smith On Tuesday, December 13, the second day of the hearing (see first day here), the prosecution presented its case why the US rejects Saab’s status as a diplomat. The prosecution presentation initially focused on Saab being a “cooperative source” for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) between 2016-2019, meeting with DEA agents several…

US Trial of Venezuela’s Alex Saab Exposes Diplomatic Espionage

Anya Parampil Reporting from inside the federal courtroom where the US is prosecuting Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, The Grayzone learns of disturbing acts of diplomatic espionage. Saab’s advocates insist he is imprisoned for violating Washington’s economic blockade. Authorities in Cape Verde, opened official government communications which Venezuela intended for Iran, including a sealed letter sent…

Day 1 of Hearing Concerning US Political Prisoner Alex Saab’s Diplomatic Status

Stansfield Smith The long delayed official hearing on the question of the Venezuela Special Envoy Alex Saab’s status as a diplomat finally began December 12, 2022. The US government had him seized in Cape Verde two and a half years ago, June 12, 2020, in violation of his  diplomatic immunity as guaranteed in the Geneva…

Venezuelan Political Prisoner on Trial in Miami Refuses to “Sing”

Roger D. Harris Starting December 12, an evidentiary hearing before the US Southern District Court of Florida is considering a case of historic importance. Is the US above international law? Can international conventions on diplomatic immunity be violated by US courts and prosecutors? The fate of Alex Saab, a special envoy of the Bolivarian Republic…

Canada and the Kidnapping of Ambassador Saab

María Páez Victor Photograph Source: Harvey K – CC BY 2.0 Throughout the years I have known some people who were very vocal and eloquent supporters of humanity and its various causes. Yet, personally, they were quite disagreeable people, very unforgiving of the actual humanity that surrounded them, their families, acquaintances and, neighbors. It always made…

US Political Prisoner Mutulu Shakur Granted Parole

Natalia Marques Photo: Family & Friends of Mutulu Shakur After over 36 years in prison, movement elder, political prisoner, and revolutionary health worker Mutulu Shakur has been granted parole with less than six months to live The US Parole Commission granted parole to US political prisoner Mutulu Shakur in October, who is now 72 after spending over…

Slavery Was On the Ballot in the US Midterms. Who Voted to Abolish it?

Natalia Marques A chain gang of prisoners subject to convict leasing in Florida, in the early 1900s. Thousands of freed Black people were reenslaved within the convict lease system, in which incarcerated people performed grueling forced labor without pay. Photo: Wikimedia More than 150 years after slavery was outlawed in the US, the practice persists…

Rafael Correa: ‘They Have Already Destroyed Assange’

Matt Kennard Former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa. (Photo: Phil Miller / Declassified UK) Declassified sits down with the former president of Ecuador who granted Julian Assange asylum in London. He talks about dealing with the British, how the US seeks to control his country and the lawfare campaign against him. “The British are used…

Possible Prisoner Exchange in US Hybrid War against Venezuela

Roger D. Harris Alex Saab has not held his daughter for over two years (Image by Alex Saab) US special presidential envoy for hostage affairs Roger Carstens is on a case which could lead to freeing Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Pressure is building on the Biden administration to swap Saab for some American citizens currently…

The US Legal System is at War with the Working Class and Marginalized

Natalia Marques Protesters against police brutality in the Bronx, New York during the 2020 George Floyd uprisings (Photo: Vincent Tsai) Incarcerations, brutality, and torture are common in the US. Activists claim that this amounts to a war waged against racially marginalized, poor, and working-class people. The very laws and government agencies created to protect the…

Prisoners for Profit: From the Kononovich Brothers to U.S. Jails

John Parker Based on remarks given at “Free the Kononovich Brothers: International Campaign Meeting” on Aug. 25. Mikhail and Alexander Kononovich are leaders of the Leninist Communist Youth Union of Ukraine. They were among hundreds of political opponents of the Ukrainian regime jailed this year, and thousands since the 2014 U.S.-backed coup. On July 18,…

How Can Americans Tolerate U.S. Government’s Crucifixion of Julian Assange?

Eric Zuesse Julian Assange has long been in solitary-confinement imprisonment in Britain awaiting extradition to America on charges which could bring him 175 years in prison, but he has never been convicted of anything, and the U.S. Government has violated both the U.S. Constitution and U.S. laws by having thus imprisoned him for over a…

Nehanda Abiodun and the Legacy of Resistance to the Prison Industrial Complex

Abayomi Azikiwe African American revolutionary exemplified the movement to end national oppression and the criminalization of a people Black August Series No. 4 Since the early 1980s, the prison population in the United States has grown exponentially with African Americans, Latin Americans and other working class people making up the majority of those incarcerated in…