Many of us have long been involved in the struggle to Free Alex Saab and to defend Venezuelan sovereignty against US economic and military aggression. Alex Saab’s imprisonment by the US on June 12, 2020, until his release on December 20, 2023, had no justification. It was in retaliation for his exemplary work in procuring material aid to Venezuela during the harshest years of the US blockade, a blockade which contributed to the deaths of over 100,000 Venezuelan civilians. With the information so far publicly available, we find the extradition of Alex Saab from Caracas to Miami on May 18, 2026, on basically the same charges, to be unjustifiable.

At present the overwhelming majority of the US sanctions or coercive measures that had crippled the Venezuelan economy remain in effect. The US empire is using the force of its military to control Venezuela’s all-important oil exports and revenues, as it does in Iraq and Syria. The US remains in position to resume an overwhelming and destructive airborne military attack against the Venezuelan infrastructure and people, against which Venezuela has little defense, and has made threats to resume this at any time.

The Bolivarian revolution, unlike during the heyday of the Pink Tide 20 years ago, is mostly isolated in Latin America, now dominated by neocolonial regimes. Its powerful allies, Russia and China, do not find themselves in position to offer substantive defense. No anti-war or solidarity movement exists inside the United States able to restrain US government action. Venezuela, like revolutionary Cuba today, can only count on its limited resources available to fend off US aggression. This places Venezuela, like Cuba, in an unusually compromised and defensive position. 

However, the Chavista revolutionary mass movement and the communal system remain fully alive and central powers in the country. The US has set them back after 11 years of sanctions and blockade, but has proven far from able to defeat them. 

The responsibility for the threat to the Venezuelan revolution and the damage inflicted on Venezuela comes from one source, that of the government of our own country, the United States. We call on all people here to stand against these vindictive and inhumane US government policies, policies it inflicts in a more extreme form on Cuba. The damage the US imposes on Venezuela, such as controlling who it may export oil to, likewise results in extremely damaging repercussions on Cuba. 

What some may find as unjustifiable compromises by the Venezuelan government pales in comparison to what is incumbent on us: to defend both Venezuela and Cuba from the cruel policies of our own government. The US imposes increasingly onerous blockades and military threats of attack against these two revolutionary examples. The US also propagates continual disinformation campaigns against them, as it is presently engaged in against the Chavista leaders and against Raul Castro. Both Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez considered US imperialism the enemy of humanity. We must clearly focus our work on combating our own government’s aggressions and not become sidetracked into criticizing what other governments do or don’t do.

Chicago ALBA Solidarity