RIYADH: Venezuela is doing all it can to arrest and punish criminals who kidnapped, beat and held to ransom two Saudi diplomats in Caracas, the country’s embassy in Riyadh said yesterday.
Saudi diplomat Ali Al-Qahtani was kidnapped and repeatedly beaten before being released after intervention by the Saudi Embassy in Caracas.
A few days later, Heilan bin Labda, another Saudi official, was also kidnapped from his home. Labda was tortured brutally, and burned on the face and other parts of his body with a hot iron bar.
Faris bin Hizam, a journalist who met Labda after he returned home, said the Venezuelan authorities have failed to take action, and that the case was remotely mentioned in the Venezuelan media. Hizam said authorities in Venezuela claim the incidents are part of a drug war.
The Venezuelan Embassy in Riyadh, however, said the Caracas government was doing its best to address the issue.
“The Bolivarian government is making vigorous efforts to capture and punish ... the criminals who attacked our brothers, the diplomatic officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the embassy said in a statement.
“The deplorable attacks against the Saudi diplomats were committed by criminal groups and extremists, enemies of Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, seeking to destroy the excellent relations between our countries,” the statement said.
“These individuals, who are motivated by financial gains and have absolute disrespect for values, have no place within Venezuelan society that is moving forward led by our Bolivarian government. The atrocities of these criminal bands will not go unpunished,” it added.
The statement said Saudi Ambassador Judyah Z. Al-Hathal was received by senior Venezuelan officials, including Temir Porras Ponceleón, deputy minister of foreign affairs, and Nicolás Maduro Moros, minister of people’s power for foreign affairs.
The statement said the officials expressed “the solidarity of the Bolivarian government and President Hugo Chávez and their determination to strengthen security for Saudi diplomats in our country.”
