US official says Venezuelan official Alex Saab has been arrested and faces extradition
The US official told Reuters that Saab (54 years old), who was previously detained in the United States, is expected to be extradited to the United States in the coming days.
Colombian newspaper El Espectador later on Wednesday quoted Saab’s lawyer, Luigi Giuliano, as denying the arrest and calling it “fake news.” Journalists allied with the Venezuelan government also made social media posts denying Saab’s arrest.
Giuliano told Venezuelan news site TalCual that Saab may appear to refute the arrest allegations himself, but is consulting with the government about what happened.
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Venezuelan official Alex Saab was reportedly arrested in a joint US-Venezuela operation. (Reuters/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria)
Venezuela’s top lawmaker, Jorge Rodriguez, did not confirm or deny the reports during a press conference, saying he had no information about the possible arrest.
This comes after the American operation to attack Venezuela and arrest Maduro Trump administration Oil tankers were later confiscated from the country.
Saab’s arrest signals a new level of cooperation between US and Venezuelan authorities under the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s former deputy, who currently controls Venezuela’s law enforcement agencies and procedures.
Alex Saab is expected to be extradited to the United States in the coming days. (Pedro Rances Mattei/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The American official stressed the importance of Rodriguez’s cooperation in the joint operation.
The official said that Raul Gorin, head of Venezuela’s Globovision television network, was also arrested in the operation.
Saab, who was born in Colombia, was previously arrested in the African country of Cape Verde in 2020 and held in the United States for more than three years on bribery charges. He eventually obtained clemency in exchange for the release of Americans detained in Venezuela.
Before granting him clemency, U.S. officials accused Saab of taking about $350 million from Venezuela via the United States as part of a bribery scheme linked to Venezuela’s state-controlled exchange rate.
Venezuelan official Alex Saab is a close ally of imprisoned former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (Gabriela Ora/AFP via Getty Images)
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Saab denied the allegations and demanded that the charges be dropped on the grounds of diplomatic immunity. The Court of Appeal had not issued its decision on Saab’s appeal by the time the prisoner exchange took place.
When it was He returned to Venezuela At the end of 2023, Maduro praised Saab’s loyalty to the country’s socialist revolution and called him a national hero.
Maduro later appointed Saab as industry minister, a position he held until last month, when Rodriguez fired him following the arrest of the country’s former leader.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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