Maduro's frontman, Alex Saab, to be extradited to the US again
The Colombian-born businessman will have to answer for accusations related to corruption and money laundering, linked to multi-million public contracts awarded during Maduro's administration, captured by the Trump administration in January.
Nicolás Maduro and Alex Saab/ Gabriela Oraa.
Venezuela announced the deportation of businessman Alex Saab to the United States. Saab, who was Venezuela's Minister of Industries and National Production between 2024 and 2026, is accused of being one of the main financial operators of chavismo and the front man of former dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Saab had already been arrested in 2020, when he made a stopover in Cape Verde en route to Iran. Caracas claimed that the businessman was traveling as a special envoy of the regime on a humanitarian mission. After an extensive diplomatic battle, he was extradited to the United States and transferred to Miami to face money laundering charges. In 2023, the Biden administration agreed to his release as part of a prisoner exchange with Venezuela.
At that time, he was received by the Venezuelan government and incorporated into the cabinet. However, following Maduro's capture, Saab was arrested by Venezuelan authorities in an operation supported by U.S. authorities. He remained in custody until Saturday, when his extradition to the United States was announced. The extradition takes place within a framework of cooperation between the White House and Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez.
The Colombian-born businessman will have to answer for accusations related to corruption and money laundering, linked to multimillion-dollar public contracts awarded during Maduro's administration, captured by the Trump administration in January.
"The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela informs the deportation of the citizen of Colombian nationality Alex Naim Saab Morán, carried out this May 16, 2026 in compliance with the regulatory provisions of Venezuelan immigration legislation," Venezuela's Administrative Service for Identification, Migration and Foreigners (SAIME) said in a statement.
"The deportation measure was adopted taking into consideration that the referred Colombian citizen is in the course of committing various crimes in the United States of America, as is public, notorious and communicative," the statement reads.
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