Reporting from the federal court where the United States is prosecuting Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, The Grayzone uncovers disturbing acts of diplomatic espionage. Saab's defense insists he is charged with violating Washington's economic blockade. Following the arrest of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab in June 2020, Cape Verde authorities opened official Venezuelan government communications intended for Iran, including a sealed letter Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro sent to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The revelations came to light during an evidentiary hearing in Saab's federal trial in Miami, Florida, focused on determining whether or not his claims of diplomatic immunity are legitimate. The Grayzone is attending Saab's trial at Wilke Ferguson's federal courthouse in downtown Miami. The Justice Department has charged the Venezuelan diplomat with money laundering conspiracy, portraying him as a corrupt business operator for the socialist government that Washington seeks to overthrow. But Saab and his defenders insist that his only crime has been violating sanctions to provide affordable food and medicine to a population suffering under the devastating U.S. economic blockade. Saab's trial is therefore a critical test of the legitimacy of the U.S. sanctions regime attacking nations from Venezuela to Iran. On Monday, Cape Verdean lawyer Dr. Florian Mandl testified that when he obtained Saab's belongings in July 2020, he discovered that three separate communications his client was tasked with delivering to Iranian government officials on behalf of the offices of the president and vice president had been opened by an unknown culprit. The documents consisted of a letter from President Maduro addressed to Ayatollah Khamenei, as well as two missives from Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez: one to an advisor to her Iranian counterpart, and another to the then Minister of Agriculture, Kazem Khavazi. According to Mandl, Cape Verdean law requires authorities to ask detainees to designate a contact person to immediately collect their belongings after detention. However, he asserted that no one even bothered to ask Saab for such a contact after the diplomat's arrest on June 12, 2020, and said he only obtained the luggage after launching a personal campaign to recover his client's possessions on July 21 of that year. Even so, the African country's authorities handed over the belongings to him on July 22. Mandl said he opened Saab's suitcases after taking them home later that day. He described the contents inside as being very "disorganized" and recalled finding three envelopes marked with Venezuelan government seals scattered among Saab's clothes. Mandl was shocked to recall the moment he realized the envelopes had already been opened, particularly when he discovered that one of the documents was a heartfelt letter President Maduro had written to Iran's supreme leader. Prior to Mandl's testimony, Saab's private bodyguard, Juan Carlos Arrieche, testified that President Maduro had personally asked him to deliver these documents to Saab on the night of June 11, 2020. Saab attended a meeting with Iranian diplomats at the Miraflores Palace that same night. Saab was leaving for Iran the following day, but was intercepted by police when his plane stopped to refuel on the Cape Verdean island of Sal that afternoon. Arrieche recalled that the diplomatic communications were in Saab's personal briefcase when he boarded the chartered flight to Tehran on the morning of June 12, and that the envelopes were still sealed at the time. In his letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, Maduro thanked Iran for the shipment of light crude and oil industry-related chemicals to Venezuela through May 2020. The shipments, which were the result of a deal brokered by Saab with Iran to end Venezuela's months-long crude crisis, allowed Caracas to double its oil production the following year, flouting the U.S. sanctions regime that prevented it from receiving the revenues. Venezuela paid for the oil products with gold. In addition to this, Maduro asked the Ayatollah for "support to specify the monthly and periodic shipment of gasoline to Venezuela for one year". "I write to you in the name of God, the Merciful, on behalf of the people of Venezuela and the government that I have the honor to preside, to thank you from the depths of the soul of this land for the support you have bravely and decisively given to Venezuela, holding international law high and laying bare the paper empires," Maduro wrote. In her own messages, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez thanked the Iranian government representatives for their solidarity "in the face of the imperial aggressions of the United States and its allies". In one of the documents in question, she extended a formal invitation to Sadegh Kharazi, an advisor to the Iranian vice president, to visit Venezuela and thus "finally consolidate cooperative and friendly relations between both nations". "I take my leave of you, deeply grateful for your attention and reiterating our willingness to work together for the consolidation of the principles of a multicentric and multipolar world", it concluded. As a result of Saab's arrest, none of the messages reached their intended recipients, although it appears that someone in Praia obtained the envelopes and read the internal communications. Cape Verde extradited Saab to the United States on October 16, 2021, where he now faces money laundering charges. Saab's lawyers asked District Judge Robert Scola to dismiss the case against their client on the grounds that his diplomatic status makes him immune from prosecution. Venezuela officially appointed Saab as its government's Special Envoy in April 2018. The hearings on Saab's diplomatic status are scheduled to conclude on Thursday, December 15. Judge Scola is expected to make a decision on whether or not the case against him will proceed on December 20. https://thegrayzone.com/2022/12/13/juicio-estados-unidos-venezolano-alex-saab-espionaje-diplomatico/