The extradition of Colombian businessman Alex Saab, designated by the United States as the alleged front man of the Chavista leader, has been completed. On Saturday afternoon, media in Cape Verde, where he had been detained since June 12, 2020, reported that Saab had taken off on a US plane from the island of Sal, where since January it had been under a house arrest measure bound for Florida. There he awaits a trial for alleged money laundering related to the Government of Venezuela. Officials from the Cape Verdean and US governments have confirmed the transfer to EFE and AP agencies.
In recent months, Chavismo has launched an intense campaign in defense of the Colombian businessman, who after his arrest was appointed diplomat. Saab operated as a special envoy but numerous journalistic investigations describe the extensive network of shell companies with which it did business with Venezuela in areas such as food, oil, coal, construction and mining. The Colombian who became the main provider of CLAPs, a subsidized food program created by Maduro in 2015, with the arrival of sanctions became an important financial operator for Maduro and his government.
In 2019, he was blacklisted by the Treasury Department along with partners and family members who are part of the corruption structure. That same year, in his country he was charged with crimes of money laundering, conspiracy to commit a crime, illicit enrichment, fictitious exports and imports and aggravated fraud and since 2018 he has been a fugitive from the Colombian justice, with a firm arrest warrant, for not attending to no judicial proceeding. In Mexico they have also investigated their businesses.
In Cape Verde, his defense built a labyrinth of legal resources to prevent a man who knows a lot about Maduro and the dozen sanctioned Venezuelan officials from being handed over to the United States. His lawyers managed to delay the process for 16 months. The businessman has declared in the media that he is a politically persecuted person and that he will not collaborate with the United States with the information that is believed to be able to handle to finish substantiating accusations against senior Chavez officials.
In Venezuela, Saab undertook an intense strategy of lawsuits, media campaigns and harassment and digital harassment against Roberto Deniz, a journalist with the Armando Info investigative portal who since 2016 has revealed the Colombian’s business. Friday had its peak on the eve of the extradition. A police commission raided the residence of the journalist’s relatives in Caracas and the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office issued an arrest warrant against Deniz, who has been in exile in Colombia since 2018 after Saab sued him and three founding colleagues of the media – Ewald Sharfenberg, Alfredo Meza and Joseph Poliszuk, also in exile – for continued aggravated libel. At the time, he denied having ties to Maduro.
Join now EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits
Subscribe here
For its part, the Venezuelan government joined its allies in defending Saab and turned it into a geopolitical issue. In the last meeting between the opposition and Chavismo, in the framework of the negotiations in Mexico, the government called for the incorporation of Saab to the table and held a protest rejecting his arrest. Russia has advocated for the businessman and indicated that his release is key to reaching agreements in Mexico.
Follow all the international information at Facebook and Twitter, o en our weekly newsletter.