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Venezuela entregó este sábado a Alex Saab a las autoridades de United States, según reportaron medios venezolanos e internacionales.
The Colombian businessman, regarded as the main financial operator of chavismo, was moved from El Helicoide —the headquarters of SEBIN in Caracas— to an initially unknown location, marking the second time he has been in U.S. custody.
According to El Impulso and El Pitazo, the U.S. Department of Justice was preparing to transfer Saab to a federal prison in Miami.
The Venezuelan media 3eraVoz reported that the interim president Delcy Rodríguez was the one who authorized the delivery as part of the ongoing negotiations between Washington and Caracas.
The operation takes place within the new political landscape of Venezuela that emerged after the capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026 in a U.S. military operation, after which Rodríguez assumed the role of interim president and began negotiations with Washington.
Saab had been arrested in Venezuela on February 4, 2026 in a joint operation between SEBIN and the FBI, remaining in Venezuelan custody while negotiations for his potential extradition to the U.S. were ongoing.
This is not the first time Saab has faced U.S. justice.
He was arrested in Cape Verde in June 2020 during a layover en route to Iran, extradited to the U.S. in October 2021, and charged with eight counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering linked to a scheme of approximately 350 million dollars related to contracts with the Venezuelan government and the CLAP food program.
In December 2023, then-President Joe Biden granted him clemency and included him in a prisoner swap with Venezuela in exchange for the release of 10 American citizens detained in the country. After returning to Caracas, Saab remained connected to the Chavista regime until his new arrest.
The strategic value of Saab for Washington lies in the knowledge he possesses about the financial architecture of chavismo.
According to anonymous sources cited by the Miami Herald in March 2026, Saab "managed the money and would be in a position to detail how the funds moved through the international financial system."
His testimony is deemed crucial for the criminal cases opened against Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in New York for drug trafficking and narco-terrorism, charges for which both face formal accusations in U.S. courts.
The delivery of Saab had been anticipated since March 2026, when specialized media indicated that the extradition was becoming increasingly likely.
Sources quoted then by the Miami Herald stated that the Venezuelan government "made it clear that it would be willing to hand over Saab if the United States granted certain concessions."
The operation represents one of the central components of the diplomatic agreement between Washington and the Venezuelan interim government, which also included the release of all American citizens detained in Venezuela on January 31, 2026.
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