The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, appointed the Colombian businessman Alex Saab, released in December by the United States in a detainee exchange with Caracas, as the new president of the International Center for Productive Investment (CIIP) of the Caribbean country.
“I announce the appointment of Alex Saab Morán as the new president of the Center for Productive Investments of Venezuela, so that he, with his experience, helps our country to bring investments and bring the economic strength of the world,” said the president during his message. annual before the National Assembly (AN/Parliament) this Monday, January 15.
The CIIP was created in October 2020 by Maduro, with the objective of attract local and foreign capital that boost the national economy and for the “registration, study and monitoring” of the sanctions imposed on the Venezuelan economy.
Saab occupies the presidency of the CIIP, replacing Felix Plasenciawho was appointed to this position in March 2023.
When making the appointment, Maduro assured that he “fully” trusts Saab and reiterated the Colombian’s diplomatic status, a member of the Government delegation for dialogue with the majority opposition.
During his speech, Maduro celebrated the “rescue” of Saab from the “kidnapping” in which, he assured, he was kept in the United States, where he was identified as an alleged figurehead of the Chavista leader, while he faced trial for the crime of conspiracy to launder money. money.
Alex Saab was extradited in 2021 to the United States from Cape Verde, where he had been detained since June 2020, when the Colombian’s plane made a technical stop in that African country on a return trip to Venezuela from Iran.
On December 20, the US released the businessman in a prisoner exchange with Venezuelawhich released ten Americans and nearly twenty Venezuelans considered “political prisoners”
