CARACAS.- Venezuela deported Colombian businessman Alex Saab to the United States this Saturday, accused of being a front man for the deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro, according to the Venezuelan Immigration Service in an official statement.
Saab was already imprisoned in the United States in 2021 on charges of money laundering and corruption. Venezuela negotiated his release in 2023 and appointed him Minister of Industry a year later. Last January, US prosecutors presented a corruption accusation against Saab in Miami (Florida).
Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed the interim presidency after the overthrow of Maduro in a US operation in January, removed him from all his duties in February and rumors began to circulate of his arrest, which was never formally confirmed by authorities.
The deportation of Alex Saab to the US
“The deportation measure was adopted taking into consideration that the aforementioned Colombian citizen is involved in the commission of various crimes in the United States of America, as is public, notorious and communicational,” details the text released this Saturday.
The transfer of a person to another country that claims them for a crime is extradition, a measure prohibited in the Venezuelan Constitution. The immigration authority claims that it is instead a “deportation.”
Saab was linked to the Venezuelan regime in the last years of Hugo Chávez’s administration (1999-2013), brought the local oil industry closer to Iran and managed a gigantic import network for the Maduro regime.
He was in charge of transporting food from the government program known as CLAP, marred by allegations of corruption.
He was arrested in 2020 in Cape Verde and extradited to the United States in October 2021. The US justice system accused him of laundering funds obtained illegally in Venezuela through the North American country.
Venezuela called him a “kidnapping” while defending him as a “hero” who fed the country amid international sanctions.
He was finally released in 2023 by Washington, during the administration of Democrat Joe Biden, as part of an agreement that included the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in Venezuela.
– Fall from grace –
After his release, Saab was in charge of managing the country’s productive sector as Minister of Industry and director of an investment center created by Maduro to attract foreign capital to Venezuela despite United States sanctions.
So Saab met with international businessmen and authorities from other countries to agree on numerous deals for which official details were never published.
He remained one of Maduro’s close men until his fall.
Under the Rodríguez administration, which governs under strong pressure from the United States, Saab did not survive even a month in government. He was quickly removed from both positions.
His wife, Camilla Fabri, who served as deputy foreign minister while heading an immigration program, was also fired in March.
