By Adam Borowski
It is a fact that specific legal rules are rooted in the very foundations of the civilized world and have helped build and sustain international peace and security. Respecting the law of immunity and inviolability of ambassadors, envoys, and diplomats is part of these long- established and accepted rules.
Whether in ancient Greece or Rome, whether in the context of armed conflicts, whether between enemies or allies, the Law of Nations has protected the sacrosanct principle of diplomatic immunity for nearly two thousand years. Even the rare examples of imprisonment of enemy ambassadors under Byzantium in the ninth and tenth centuries stand out very much as exceptional. It is another fact that respecting this type of immunity distinguishes civilized
nations from barbarians over time.
From a strictly legal and diplomatic point of view, the case of Venezuela’s Special Envoy and Deputy Ambassador to the African Union, Alex Saab, seems to be an anomaly. This anomaly is part of a modern narrative of a banal example of post-colonial control by the United States, acting as the imperial power giving orders to its Vassal, in this case, the micro-state of Cape Verde, in defiance of international law. The reality of this relationship is that the use by the United States of extraterritorial judicial overreach is colonialism by another name.
The attempts of both parties to portray this interaction as “a partnership” of equals is beyond laughable. It is regrettable to watch the humiliation which Prime Minister Ulisses Correia and his senior colleagues are subjecting their country to at the hands of the United States. There is only one thing the US wants from this interaction, and that is Alex Saab. If, and remains a big if, given the legal position, Prime Minster Correia extradites Alex Saab, he and his cabinet will have to learn very quickly to play the roles of deflowered maidens who live in shame.
Indeed, the facts of this case are pretty straightforward. Alex Saab was undertaking a humanitarian Special Mission on behalf of Venezuela and was en route to the Islamic Republic of Iran to procure medicines, medical equipment, and basic foodstuffs at the height of the COVID-19 epidemic. Special Envoy Saab’s aircraft made a technical refueling stop in Cape Verde on 12 June 2020. Alex Saab had no need nor desire to get out of his aircraft and certainly had no intention of entering Cape Verde. As ECOWAS Court of Justice records now show for all to see, but which Saab’s attorneys have been saying since June 2020, without an arrest warrant, without an Interpol Red Notice, indeed without any rational or valid reason at all, Cape Verdean police in the form of Natalino Correia entered the plane, forced Alex Saab to leave the aircraft, made him purchase an entry visa (!) and took him to
solitary confinement.
When Natalino Correia forced his way onto the aircraft, Alex Saab announced his diplomatic status and offered to show the documents he was carrying in a small case that proved his diplomatic status and confirmed that he was on a Special Mission. Still, the Cape Verdean policeman refused to listen or even examine the documents. Correia claimed to have an Interpol Red Notice authorizing Saab’s arrest, but this, too, we know from ECOWAS Court
of Justice records, based on evidence submitted by Cape Verde itself, to be false.
Shockingly, Natalino Correia removed the case and hid it, pretending that it did not exist, thus setting in motion a process which has resulted in the illegal detention of a lawfully appointed diplomat, with complete immunity and inviolability, for more than a year.
Within a few hours of Alex Saab’s arrest, the highest authorities of Venezuela and Iran confirmed his diplomatic status to Cape Verde and the reality of the humanitarian Special Mission. Despite these official direct communications, the Cape Verdean micro-state, in a manner that can only be explained if it was acting under orders of the American Emperor, again refused to accept that the sacrosanct rule of immunity is respected.
As an aside, it should be noted that Alex Saab’s case was returned a few weeks later, and from its condition (see photograph below) it is evident that the bag was thoroughly searched (perhaps abused is a better expression), and its contents, including the diplomatic communications proving Alex Saab’s Special Envoy status, had obviously been viewed by the Cape Verdean authorities. Yet, one can only assume because of instructions from the
American Emperor, Cape Verde brazenly and shamefully ignored centuries of law governing the free movement of diplomats and political agents.
From a legal perspective and from the Law of Diplomatic Immunities, Alex Saab’s arrest is a textbook case illustrating a flagrant violation of international law. As far as Special Envoys are concerned, the 1969 Convention on Special Missions can be a useful reference in that it codifies and reflects customary law – indeed, in rulings, Cape Verdean judges have referred to it and applied even though Cape Verde has not ratified it.
What is beyond dispute is that Alex Saab was on a humanitarian Special Mission on behalf of the Bolivarian Republic, acting on behalf of Venezuela en route to Iran. This is materially proven by the diplomatic letters issued before the mission and which we know Alex Saab was carrying and, in any case, Cape Verde was only a third state-of-transit for his mission. While Cape Verde was not notified of the transit of a Special Envoy through its airport, the absence of prior notification can be explained and justified by the purely technical nature of Alex Saab’s transit. To be clear, there is no legal basis for using this as a justification for violating the principle of immunity and inviolability.
It remains indisputable that Cape Verde was duly and formally informed of Alex Saab’s status as a Special Envoy through official diplomatic letters. Technically, that means that since the status of Special Envoy was made known to the State of Cape Verde and Venezuela did not withdraw the protective status of immunity and inviolability, these principles must be respected in accordance with international law.
Under accepted international law, at most, Cape Verde had the option of formally refusing transit Alex Saab’s transit by notifying Venezuela of its objection and declaring the Special Envoy persona non grata. This it chose not to do because the American Emperor was only interested in an outcome that resulted in Alex Saab’s detention – no matter how many laws were broken in achieving that aim. Indeed, the Emperor wanted its Vassal not to take any action which might in any way recognize Alex Saab’s diplomatic status and accept that he had immunity and inviolability. However, Cape Verde’s result is that arbitrarily arresting and detaining a diplomat in transit cannot in any way be legitimized under customary international law.
Cape Verde’s flagrant violation of international law cannot be attributed to its ignorance of international law and conduct of diplomatic relations due to inexperience in playing at the “top table”.
From a strategic and political point of view, there is no doubt that the actions of the Vassal are ordered and orchestrated by the American Emperor. The instrumentalization of the law is at work: on 12 June 2020, Donald Trump succeeded in having Alex Saab, a diplomat on a Special Mission from “an enemy state,” arrested simply by commanding Cape Verde to violate international law. The technique is well documented, and it is known that the United States prefers to order its vassal nations to torture and detain their enemies on its behalf, as was illustrated in the post 9/11 scandals of secret prisons or extraordinary renditions. All it needs is a pliant Vassal, which Trump found in Ulisses Correia’s Cape Verde.
In the end, it cost the American Emperor nothing more than a few phones calls and some vague promises of civil construction to get Ulisses Correia to bend his knee and comply with its will – no matter the damage to Cape Verde’s reputation. Unfortunately, for the people of Cape Verde, the cost is significantly higher. The country is left looking like a vassal state with a new colonial master, a shattered international reputation, open violation of
international law and human rights law. If this wasn’t enough, Cape Verde is now established as a country that defies the United Nations, binding decisions of the ECOWAS Court of Justice and the African Union – all of which any civilized nation knows demand respect.
