In a geopolitical 180-degree turn that marks the end of an entire era for Caracas, Venezuelan authorities announced the official extradition to the United States of Alex Saab , the Colombian businessman who was one of the most trusted and close associates of the ousted president, Nicolas Maduro .
This decision, which comes to confirm the complete collapse of the previous regime , was justified by Caracas with the clear admission that Saab “is involved in the commission of various crimes in the United States of America.”
Saab was no random official, but the man of “special missions” and the architect of Maduro’s economic survival. He had played a pivotal role in building strategic and economic ties between Venezuela’s oil industry and Iran , bypassing the international embargo for years.
His power was such that in December 2024 he was appointed Minister of Industry of the country. However, his political fate was definitively sealed after the stormy US military operation of January 3, which led to the capture of his mentor, Nicolas Maduro, inside Caracas itself. Just two weeks after this historic blow, Saab was hastily removed from the government, deprived of any political protection.
Alex Saab’s legal odyssey with the US justice system has been going on for several years and resembles a spy thriller. He was initially arrested in 2021 and imprisoned in the United States, with Washington accusing him of having set up a labyrinthine, international system of abusing humanitarian aid (intended for the malnourished people of Venezuela) with the sole purpose of enriching and financing the Maduro government.
In December 2023, in a dramatic diplomatic move, Saab was freed and returned triumphantly to Caracas, after being exchanged for ten American citizens held in Venezuelan prisons.
But the new reality taking shape in Venezuela after the overthrow of Maduro deprives Saab of any immunity. The decision of the new transitional leadership in Caracas to hand him over again to the US authorities is a clear sign of the country’s alignment with Washington and a clear warning that the period of impunity for the executives of the previous regime has come to a definitive end.
