By Evaristo Lara
The Venezuelan government announced the deportation of Colombian Alex Naim Saab Morán, former Minister of Well-liked Power of Industries and National Production of the Bolivarian Republic, considered an alleged suspect of the former president Nicolas Maduro who is being tried in the United States for allegedly leading the so-called Cartel of the Suns and using the State apparatus, including the military and armed civilian groups, to carry out the transfer of drugs to final destinations in various parts of the United States.
Through a statement issued by the Administrative Service for Identification, Migration and Immigration (SAIME), a Venezuelan government institution in charge of usually registering and controlling the identity of Venezuelan citizens and foreigners in the country, it is mentioned that Alex Saab was initially detained in El Helicoide, a maximum security prison, but before being deported he was sent to Fuerte Tiuna, a military complex located in Caracas.
Although it does not specify the final destination of the businessman originally from Barranquilla, Colombia, His testimony before the authorities of a Federal Court in New York is key to defining the fate of former president Maduro.
At the beginning of February, Saab Morán was arrested in a joint operation between the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
It should be noted that He had already been imprisoned in the United States in 2021, and was facing judicial proceedings related to the crimes of corruption and money laundering. linked to Chavismo. However, two years later, he was freed in a prisoner exchange.
At the end of 2024, Nicolás Maduro appointed him Minister for Industry and National Production, but when Delcy Rodríguez assumed the presidency, he removed him from office on January 16.
Various lines of investigation suggest that the 54-year-old Colombian became illicitly enriched through multiple million-dollar contracts negotiated with the Venezuelan government, but specifically thanks to the so-called “Great Venezuela Housing Mission”, which was designed to build houses for the poor in the Bolivarian Republic with discouraging results, since the materials of said houses were of poor quality and billed at exorbitant prices with the approval of Nicolás Maduro.
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