Venezuela Deports Saab as Government Steps Up US Cooperation

Venezuela’s government said Alex Saab was deported from the country on Saturday over his alleged involvement in several crimes in the US.

Immigration authorities did not provide details on his final destination.

Saab, the Colombian businessman who became one of the former President Nicolás Maduro’s most influential financial operators, had been held at the infamous El Helicoide prison in Caracas since early February, while Venezuelan and US authorities explored ways to transfer him to the US.

The transfer marks the most significant legal cooperation between Caracas and Washington since Maduro’s capture by US forces in January and it could open a new front in corruption cases tied to the former Venezuelan administration. Maduro is currently on trial in a New York court alongside his wife, Cilia Flores.

Press officials for Venezuela’s information ministry and the US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to questions on Saab’s final destination. 

Since assuming power in January, Delcy Rodríguez has sought to replace longtime Maduro loyalists with officials viewed as more acceptable to Washington, as she moves to consolidate control over the government.

Rodríguez dismissed Saab from his role as industry minister less than two weeks after Maduro’s ouster and later removed his wife, Camilla Fabri, from a post overseeing the government’s repatriation program.

During his detention in Caracas, Saab held meetings with US officials who pressed him for information about assets linked to Maduro and his associates. Venezuelan authorities, meanwhile, explored legal mechanisms to enable Saab’s transfer while avoiding constitutional restrictions on extraditing Venezuelan citizens. Saab became a naturalized Venezuelan citizen during Maduro’s rule.

To facilitate a possible handover, the interim government explored ways to annul Saab’s Venezuelan citizenship, though it remains unclear whether authorities ultimately pursued that route.

Saab was first extradited to the US from Cape Verde in 2021 after being charged in Miami with laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through a bribery scheme tied to Venezuelan government contracts. He was released in December 2023 as part of a prisoner swap negotiated by the administration of former US President Joe Biden that secured the release of 10 Americans held in Venezuela.

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