The Government of Venezuela deported former Colombian minister and businessman Alex Saab to the United States for the alleged commission of crimes in that country, reported the Administrative Service for Identification, Migration and Immigration (SAIME).
“The deportation measure was adopted taking into consideration that the aforementioned Colombian citizen is involved in the commission of various crimes in the United States of America, as is public, notorious and communicational,” said the SAIME in a statement published on Instagram.
Nicolás Maduro (right) shakes the hand of Colombian businessman Alex Saab upon his arrival at the headquarters of the National Assembly to deliver his speech on the state of the nation, on January 15, 2024. (Photo: Federico PARRA / AFP).
/ FEDERICO PARRA
Likewise, he indicated that the deportation process was carried out this Saturday “in compliance with the regulatory provisions of Venezuelan immigration legislation.”
Last March, The New York Times reported that Donald Trump’s Administration was negotiating the extradition of Saab, a key ally of Nicolás Maduro, who returned to Venezuela in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange during the previous Government of Democrat Joe Biden.
US prosecutors filed a corruption charge against Saab in Miami (Florida) last January, shortly after the United States attacked Venezuela and captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were transferred to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
According to The New York Times, the new Venezuelan government, headed by the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, detained Saab in early February at the request of Washington.
Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, smiles during a press conference at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas on January 14, 2026. (Juan BARRETO / AFP)
/ JUAN BARRETO
The Colombian businessman, who was classified in 2020 as a diplomat by the Maduro Government, was received in December 2023 as a hero in Venezuela and appointed in January 2024 by Maduro as president of the International Center for Productive Investment (CIIP).
Maduro said at that time that from that position Saab would bring investments to the oil country.
In October 2024, Saab was appointed Minister of Industry and National Production, a position from which he was dismissed by Delcy Rodríguez, who merged that State portfolio with that of National Commerce to create a “new instance” that he entrusted to Minister Luis Antonio Villegas.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, speaks next to Colombian businessman Alex Saab upon his arrival at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas on December 20, 2023. (Photo by Federico Parra / AFP)
/ FEDERICO PARRA
The decision was adopted by the president in charge two weeks after the United States attack on Caracas and three nearby regions, which ended with the capture of the president.
Saab, 54 years old and a personal friend of Maduro, has been accused in the United States for years of having illicitly enriched himself through government contracts and of having acted as a front man for the Chavista leader.
