JUST IN: Who is Alex Saab, close to Maduro delivered by Venezuela to the United States?
Latest Developments:
International observers are closely monitoring the latest developments as new information continues to emerge.
Until the beginning of the year, he was the key man in power in Venezuela. But the capture of the now deposed president Nicolas Maduro, on January 3 on the orders of Donald Trump, led to the fall of Alex Saab. Minister under Maduro, this Colombian of Lebanese origin was sidelined by interim president Delcy Rodriguez. Isolated, he can no longer count on the protection of the former master of Caracas to whom he was close. For his detractors, Alex Saab was Maduro’s business front man. His supporters, on the contrary, saw in him a devoted servant of Chavismo and an ingenious intermediary, qualities which had earned him Venezuelan nationality and a diplomatic passport. 20 Minutes introduces you to this controversial man, deported to the United States on Saturday. What is his background? Son of a Lebanese entrepreneur in Barranquilla, Colombia, Alex Saab, 54, began by selling key rings before successfully launching into textiles. “Guided by his spirit of cosmopolitan entrepreneur, he seeks to cross borders” and goes to Venezuela, attracted by “the construction sector”, tells the YouTube series “Alex Saab, anti-blockade agent”, a very official version of his life. According to this series, he obtained his first contract in Venezuela in 2011. In the images, we discover the businessman then in his thirties, sporting a ponytail, signing an “alliance” at the Presidential Palace of Miraflores. strategic” for “construction kits for social housing”. At the time, the president was Hugo Chavez. Nicolas Maduro is Minister of Foreign Affairs. “I proposed an Italian system of construction. After a year of work and door-to-door knocking, we managed to enter and open a factory,” Alex Saab told the newspaper El Tiempo in 2017. What was his role under the Maduro regime? Under the Maduro presidency, Alex Saab experienced a meteoric rise to become a “shadow minister plenipotentiary,” estimates Roberto Deniz, journalist from Armando.info. According to his YouTube channel, after “significant” commercial successes, Alex Saab became “a public official” in 2018 sent on a “mission” to acquire “food, medicines and products for refineries” from Russia and Iran – two important allies of Venezuela. by American sanctions. Suspected by the United States of pulling the strings of a vast network which would have allowed Nicolas Maduro and members of power to divert food aid for their own benefit, Alex Saab was indicted in July 2019 in Miami. With his associate Alvaro Pulido, he was accused of transferring $350 million out of Venezuela to foreign accounts. He faced twenty years in prison. How did his previous arrest happen at the request of the United States? In June 2020, Alex Saab was arrested during a technical stopover of his private jet in Cape Verde, then extradited to the United States after 16 months of a fierce diplomatic-judicial battle. Caracas had loudly demanded his release, putting up inscriptions across Venezuela like “Freedom for diplomat Alex Saab” or creating the hashtag #FreeAlexSaab on social networks. “Chavismo has never worked so hard for someone. What explains why we move heaven and earth for him? » asked Roberto Deniz at the time of his extradition. “Obviously there is a lot of fear. He can reveal things about the arrangements, the circulation of funds, the additional costs… He was the linchpin of the Maduro regime’s affairs with allied countries,” he added. Our file on Venezuela He was finally exchanged for American prisoners in December 2023. His return to Venezuela the same month, after almost three years of detention in the United States, was broadcast live on public television and celebrated as a diplomatic victory. He now risks another stay in the American prison system, like his former ally Maduro.
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Source: This article was originally published by 20Minutes – Actu Monde and adapted for our international English-speaking audience.
Read the original article here.