"Alex Saab will be released from prison if we put our joint energy into this," said former political prisoner Oscar López Rivera, leader of the Puerto Rican Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN), during his intervention in the webinar "Free Alex Saab", organised by the Free Alex Saab Foundation and the Alliance For Global Justice.
López Rivera emphasised that "we need to make sure that the whole world understands what he is going through, because he is being threatened in a tremendous way, and the United States (US) should be ashamed to have him imprisoned," he said.
In this sense, the revolutionary activist pointed out that some of his comrades who were also political prisoners are joining efforts "to get the US government to do the right thing; we are going to do as much as we can, we are going to do our best to make sure that people understand that their lives are threatened by the conditions to which they are being subjected," he said.
Pain and suffering
López Rivera expressed her solidarity with the pain and suffering of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab and his family: "I heard Camilla say that he does not have access to the sun, that he cannot be in the sun; human beings should be in the sun, I know that his health is being affected", she said.
"I spent 36 years behind bars, I can relate to the pain that both the husband and wife are going through; I think it's a situation that many people would not recognise. All the US has done is commit crime upon crime," he said.
In this sense, López Rivera was emphatic in affirming that the torture and humiliation to which Alex Saab has been subjected since his kidnapping are "an effective way for the government to do what it usually does, the treatment of prisoners is a legal crime because the US government has the power to do many things and call them legal", he said.
Joining forces for freedom
López Rivera was optimistic about the release of the Venezuelan Special Envoy, noting that "this is the moment for us to put our strength for the release of the prisoners, we can definitely do a lot so that he can go home to be with his family",
"It is important that we try to get him out; it is not difficult to do things that are right, that justice and freedom prevail. No human being should be victimised by the US government, I think we can definitely help him get out of prison," he argued.
Finally, the Puerto Rican activist expressed that "yes, what we hope for can be achieved", and announced that on 16 February "we are going to Miami, we will definitely be there, we believe that Alex Saab will be released".
