Maduro’s ‘bag man’ sent to US as Venezuela deports Alex Saab in dramatic turn

Venezuela has deported businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of former President Nicolas Maduro who faces multiple criminal investigations in the United States, in a dramatic reversal less than three years after then-US President Joe Biden pardoned him as part of a prisoner swap.Venezuela’s immigration authority announced the decision on Saturday, saying Saab’s removal was based on several ongoing US criminal investigations. While the statement did not specify where Saab was sent, it only referred to him as a “Colombian national,” an apparent reference to Venezuelan laws prohibiting the extradition of Venezuelan citizens.US officials had long considered Maduro’s “bag man” to be Maduro’s “bag man” and could now become a key witness in cases linked to the former Venezuelan leadership.

Maduro himself is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being arrested in a US military raid in January.The deportation marks a sharp decline in the status of Saab, whose return to Venezuela in 2023 was celebrated by Maduro and senior officials as a diplomatic victory over Washington. Having previously been arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 during a refueling stop en route to Iran, Maduro and then-acting President Delcy Rodriguez claimed that Saab was a Venezuelan diplomat participating in a humanitarian mission aimed at bypassing US sanctions.

Since taking power after Maduro’s ouster on January 3, Rodriguez has distanced herself from Saab. It removed him from its government, stripped him of his role as a liaison to foreign investors, and reportedly alienated him from the country’s political and business networks. Rumors had circulated for months that Saab was either under house arrest or imprisoned.His deportation is expected to deepen divisions within Venezuela’s ruling Chavista movement, named after former president Hugo Chavez.

Rodriguez has sought closer ties with Washington, including opening Venezuela’s oil and mining sectors to American investment, moves that have angered hardline allies who have long condemned the United States as an “empire.”Among these critics is Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, one of the most influential figures within the Venezuelan security apparatus and himself the subject of criminal charges in the United States.In February, US federal prosecutors spent months investigating Saab’s alleged role in a bribery conspiracy related to Venezuelan food import contracts. The investigation stems from a case brought by the US Department of Justice in 2021 against Alvaro Pulido, a longtime Saab aide.The investigation focuses on the CLAP program, a government-run scheme created under Maduro to distribute staple foods such as rice, cornmeal and cooking oil during Venezuela’s economic collapse and hyperinflation crisis.According to the indictment, Saab, identified as “Co-conspirator 1,” allegedly helped create a network of companies used to bribe a pro-Maduro governor who awarded inflated food import contracts from Mexico.Saab first came under US scrutiny after his 2020 arrest in Cape Verde while traveling to Iran on a private plane. His extradition to the United States at the time angered Maduro’s government, which insisted that he have diplomatic status.Rodriguez hailed Saab’s eventual return to Venezuela in 2023 as a “resounding victory” against what she called the US campaign of “lies and threats.” But many Republicans criticized Biden’s decision to pardon Saab. Senator Chuck Grassley wrote to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland saying that history “should remember Saab as a predator of vulnerable people.”Biden’s pardon was limited to a 2019 indictment linked to allegations that Saab and Pulido obtained contracts through bribery to build low-income housing projects in Venezuela that were never completed.

The pardon forms part of a broader agreement under which Venezuela released imprisoned Americans and returned fugitive defense contractor Leonard Francis, widely known as “Fat Leonard.”Saab could now become an important witness for the US authorities. Court files and closed hearings revealed that he secretly cooperated with the US Drug Enforcement Administration before his first arrest, helping investigators examine corruption within Maduro’s inner circle. As part of this cooperation, SAP lost more than US$12 million related to illicit business transactions.Neal Schuster, Saab’s Miami-based lawyer, declined to comment, while the US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.