{"id":16965,"date":"2026-05-17T02:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/17\/venezuela-says-it-deported-a-close-ally-of-maduro-to-face-judicial-proceedings-in-us-ksat\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T02:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:30:21","slug":"venezuela-says-it-deported-a-close-ally-of-maduro-to-face-judicial-proceedings-in-us-ksat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/17\/venezuela-says-it-deported-a-close-ally-of-maduro-to-face-judicial-proceedings-in-us-ksat\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela says it deported a close ally of Maduro to face judicial proceedings in US &#8211; KSAT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Associated Press<br \/>Published:\u00a0<time datetime=\"2026-05-16T22:47:02.000Z\">May 16, 2026 at 5:47 PM<\/time><br \/>Updated:\u00a0<time datetime=\"2026-05-17T00:44:20.000Z\">May 16, 2026 at 7:44 PM<\/time><br \/>Associated Press<br \/><strong>MIAMI<\/strong> \u2013 Venezuela\u2019s government said Saturday it deported a close ally of <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nicolas-maduro\">Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> facing several criminal investigations in the U.S. less than three years after the businessman was pardoned by President <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/joe-biden\">Joe Biden<\/a> as part of a prisoner swap.<br \/>The decision marks a stark reversal for Alex Saab, who Maduro fought tooth and nail to bring home after his previous international arrest in 2020. Now, the Colombian-born insider, long described by U.S. officials as Maduro\u2019s \u201cbag man,\u201d may be asked to testify against his former protector, who is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being captured in a shock raid by the U.S. military in January.<br \/>Recommended Videos<br \/>The Venezuelan immigration authority in a short statement Saturday did not explicitly say where it had sent Saab but said the decision was made based on several ongoing criminal investigations in the U.S. The statement&#8217;s reference to Saab only as a \u201cColombian citizen\u201d appeared to be a nod to Venezuelan law, which prohibits the extradition of its nationals. Following his last arrest, Venezuela&#8217;s government submitted a copy of what it said was Saab&#8217;s Venezuelan passport to a U.S. court, with then Vice President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez \u2014 now acting President \u2014 claiming he was an \u201cinnocent Venezuelan diplomat\u201d who had been illegally \u201ckidnapped&#8221; while on a humanitarian mission to Iran to circumvent the \u201cimmoral, imperial blockade&#8221; imposed by the United States.<br \/>A fortune built from government contracts<br \/>Saab, 54, amassed a fortune through Venezuelan government contracts. But he fell out of favor with the country\u2019s new leadership that took power following Maduro\u2019s ouster. Since taking over from Maduro on Jan. 3, Rodr\u00edguez demoted Saab, <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/venezuela-maduro-ally-alex-saab-us-prisoner-44661d37f877271f3e547e0add76529e\">firing him from her Cabinet<\/a> and stripping him of his role as the main conduit for foreign companies looking to invest in Venezuela. For months conflicting news accounts have circulated that he was imprisoned or under house arrest. <br \/>His removal to the United States is likely to deepen divisions inside Rodr\u00edguez&#8217;s fragile ruling coalition of Chavistas, named for the movement started by the late Hugo Ch\u00e1vez. <br \/>Rodr\u00edguez has generated enormous goodwill in Washington and successfully stalled any talk of new elections as she bends to the Trump administration\u2019s demands to open up its oil and mining industries to American investment.<br \/>But those concessions to what Chavistas have long decried as the U.S. \u201cEmpire\u201d have angered many of her more radical, ideologically driven allies, some of whom, like Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, wield great influence inside the Venezuelan security forces and face criminal charges themselves in the U.S.<br \/>US investigation into food corruption<br \/>The Associated Press reported in February that federal prosecutors have been digging for months into Saab\u2019s role in an alleged bribery conspiracy involving Venezuelan government contracts to import food.<br \/>The investigation stems from a 2021 case the Justice Department brought against Saab\u2019s longtime partner, Alvaro Pulido, a former law enforcement official said. That prosecution, out of Miami, centers around the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/business-venezuela-miami-south-america-indictments-f965d9b60bfdab4f7564980fb66aef0d\">so-called CLAP program<\/a> set up by Maduro to provide staples \u2014 rice, corn flour, cooking oil \u2014 to poor Venezuelans struggling to feed themselves at a time of rampant hyperinflation and a crumbling currency.<br \/>Saab is identified in the indictment as \u201cCo-Conspirator 1&#8243; and allegedly helped set up a web of companies used to bribe a pro-Maduro governor who awarded the business partners a contract to import food boxes from Mexico at an inflated price. <br \/>Saab was first <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/africa-business-venezuela-courts-caribbean-29fafa2c34ba4f7ed1079ca30c356f8f\">arrested in 2020<\/a> after his private jet made a refueling stop in Cape Verde en route to Iran on what the Venezuelan government described as a humanitarian mission to circumvent U.S. sanctions. <br \/>Rodr\u00edguez celebrated Saab\u2019s return in 2023 as a \u201cresounding victory&#8221; for Venezuela over what she called a U.S.-led campaign of lies and threats. But several Republicans criticized the deal, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, who wrote a letter to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland saying history \u201cshould remember (Saab) as a predator of vulnerable people.&#8221;<br \/>Over the objections of law enforcement, Biden in 2023 agreed to free Saab in exchange for the release of several imprisoned Americans and Venezuela\u2019s return of <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-ukraine-asia-venezuela-navy-fbbe6efc3c566e76c3891c29677973ff\">a fugitive foreign defense contractor<\/a> known as <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/fat-leonard-navy-bribery-scandal-venezuela-extradition-57c07f7efdf9e0cbcaad35d04eff3b6e\">\u201cFat Leonard.\u201d<\/a> The deal came as part of an effort by the Biden White House to roll back sanctions and lure Maduro into holding a free and fair presidential election.<br \/>Biden&#8217;s pardon of Saab was narrowly tailored to a 2019 indictment \u2014 the case number is cited in the pardon itself \u2014 related to a contract he and Pulido allegedly won through bribes to build low-income housing units in Venezuela that were never built.<br \/>A possible witness against Maduro<br \/>Should Saab be returned to U.S. custody, he could become a valuable witness against Maduro. <br \/>The businessman <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/venezuela-colombia-caribbean-miami-nicolas-maduro-f6d107240cd8085f54d192b9f7b549f3\">secretly met with the Drug Enforcement Administration<\/a> before his first arrest and, in a closed-door court hearing in 2022, his lawyers revealed that the businessman, for years, helped the DEA untangle corruption in Maduro\u2019s inner circle. As part of that cooperation, he forfeited more than $12 million in illegal proceeds from dirty business dealings.<br \/>Saab&#8217;s Miami-based attorney, Neil Schuster, declined to comment. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<br \/>___<br \/>Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report from Washington. <br \/>___<br \/>This story is part of an investigation that includes the FRONTLINE documentary \u201cCrisis in Venezuela,\u201d which aired Feb. 10, 2026, on PBS. Watch the documentary at <a href=\"http:\/\/pbs.org\/frontline\">pbs.org\/frontline<\/a>, in the <a href=\"https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbs.org%2Fpbs-app%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Ctberman%40ap.org%7C634d6d55192c4654a11c08de68cfda47%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C639063439126461643%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=rE%2FJ61urQ7se2hpec9y1awVy3KHGVUS%2BKR5LRixtJhw%3D&amp;reserved=0\">PBS App<\/a> and on <a href=\"https:\/\/nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2F%40frontline&amp;data=05%7C02%7Ctberman%40ap.org%7C634d6d55192c4654a11c08de68cfda47%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C639063439126501304%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=%2F4Z8wqTm%2F7c182Qxa5dF0H%2BKzjAaxWC%2FGvKZWb%2BHXNs%3D&amp;reserved=0\">FRONTLINE\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>.<br \/>Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. 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