Cape Verde Economy Sag; Prime Minister Busy Playing Politics With Alex Saab’s Release

Prime Minister

The Economy of Cape Verde continues to suffer serious downturn never witnessed in the history of the country since its independence in 1975.

"Since independence, the country has never been faced with an economic, social, financial and budgetary situation of the magnitude we are facing today", Dr Olavo Correia, Deputy Prime Minister has confirmed.

This is because the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia continues to look unconcerned and focuses more on ensuring Venezuelan Diplomat Alex Saab, who faces extradition to the United States, remains in illegal detention in Cape Verde.

In the absence of economic leadership and with a Prime Minister intent on focussing doing the bidding of the United States, it is no surprise that Cape Verde’s economy contracted by 14.8 percent in 2020.

The Finance Minister attributed the financial crisis to COVD-19 pandemic, but opposition figures insist the economy downturn has been made worse, because the Prime Minister has been busy playing geopolitics instead of focusing on domestic matters.

The past few months have seen the actions of Prime Minister Ulisses Correia and his Interior Minister resulting in Cape Verde defying three binding decisions of the ECOWAS Court and earns heavy criticism from leaders of the other 14 Member States at the last month’s ECOWAS summit held in Ghana.

More recently, Cape Verde has been ordered to halt Alex Saab’s extradition by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva, while it investigates allegations of torture and denial to specialist health care which Saab, as a cancer patient, has been refused for over a year.

Cape Verde arrested Saab who is also Venezuela’s Deputy Ambassador to the African Union on 12 June 2020 based on a request from the United States. On 15 March 2021, the ECOWAS Court of Justice, in a unanimous decision delivered by Judge Rapporteur Justice Januaria Costa (a senior Cape Verde jurist and the country’s former Minster of Justice) ruled that Saab’s arrest and detention were illegal due to numerous violations of Cape Verde Law, that he should be freed immediately and the extradition process be terminated.

There are suggestions that in pandering to the politically motivated United States pursuit of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab, the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior, have systematically destroyed the good name and the economy of Cape Verde.