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The Colombian businessman Alex Naim Saab Morán, identified as the main financial operator of chavismo and frontman for Nicolás Maduro, arrived on Saturday at the executive airport of Opa-locka, Miami-Dade County, Florida, after being deported from Venezuela to the United States.
The agency EFE confirmed his arrival escorted by U.S. federal agents, including members of the DEA. The plane landed around 9:00 PM.
According to the portal El Tiempo, the aircraft that transferred Saab would be a Gulfstream, with the U.S. registration N550GA, which entered Venezuelan airspace on Saturday, heading to Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía.
The Administrative Service of Identification, Migration, and Foreigners of Venezuela (SAIME) confirmed the deportation through a statement published on Instagram, stating that the deportation measure was taken considering that Saab "is involved in the commission of various crimes in the United States of America."
It is expected that after his arrival in Miami, he will be presented before a Federal District Court.
It was the interim Venezuelan president Delcy Rodríguez who authorized the delivery of Saab, according to the Venezuelan media 3eraVoz, as part of the ongoing negotiations between Washington and the interim government of Caracas.
This is the second time Saab has faced justice in the United States. He was detained in Cape Verde in June 2020 during a layover on his way 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 involving approximately $350 million related to contracts with the Venezuelan government and the CLAP food program.
In December 2023, then-President Joe Biden included him in a prisoner swap with Venezuela—despite not having been convicted— in exchange for the release of 10 American citizens detained in the country.
Saab returned to Caracas welcomed as a hero by Maduro and was appointed in January 2024 as president of the International Productive Investment Center, and in October of that year as minister of Industry and National Production.
The new political landscape in Venezuela, emerging after the capture of Maduro in a U.S. military operation on January 3, led to his downfall. Rodríguez dismissed Saab as minister on January 17, merging his portfolio with that of National Trade.
On February 4, Saab was arrested in Venezuela during a joint operation between SEBIN and the FBI, remaining imprisoned in El Helicoide, the SEBIN headquarters in Caracas. According to The New York Times, the arrest was made at the request of Washington.
U.S. prosecutors had already filed a new corruption indictment against Saab in Miami, with charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and bribery.
Since March, outlets like The Miami Herald had predicted that the extradition was "increasingly likely", citing sources that indicated the Venezuelan government "made it clear that it would be willing to hand over Saab if the United States granted certain concessions."
The strategic value of Saab for Washington lies in his knowledge of the financial architecture of chavismo. According to unnamed sources cited by the Miami Herald, Saab "managed the money and would be in a position to detail how the funds moved through the international financial system."
Her testimony is considered crucial for the pending criminal cases against Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in New York, where they both face charges of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.
The delivery of Saab is part of a broader diplomatic agreement between Washington and the Venezuelan interim government, which also included the release of all American citizens detained in Venezuela on January 31.
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