Front man for Maduro’s cabinet

Alex Saab in prison at a hearing in Florida Federal Court on October 11, 2022

Businessman Alex Saab receives a greeting from the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, during an official ceremony, on January 15

CARACAS (AP).— The Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, announced yesterday the incorporation of businessman Alex Saab as a member of his government team in the position of Minister of Industry and National Production, almost a year after he was released by the United States. as part of a swap for 10 Americans imprisoned in Venezuela and the extradition of a fugitive.

“I appointed Alex Saab as the new Minister of Popular Power for Industry and National Production, I am sure that with his great management capacity and commitment to our people, he will promote the development of the entire industrial system of Venezuela,” Maduro wrote on his channel in Telegram.

Saab – Colombian and nationalized Venezuelan – was arrested in 2020 in Cape Verde, considered by the US authorities as a financial operator (front man) for Nicolás Maduro.

His capture was carried out when he was making a stopover to load fuel bound for Iran in order to negotiate oil agreements on behalf of the Venezuelan government.

In October 2021, he was extradited to the United States.

Change

The exchange between Saab and 10 Americans imprisoned in Venezuela occurred last December after Washington granted the Maduro government a broad temporary suspension of sanctions after the president and the opposition agreed to work to improve electoral conditions ahead of the elections. 2024 presidential elections.

As hopes for a democratic opening faded, US President Joe Biden’s government withdrew the temporary suspension.

After the disputed elections of July 28, in which Maduro was declared the winner without showing the electoral records, the United States was one of the countries to recognize the victory of former opposition candidate Edmundo González.

Among the released Americans were two former Green Berets: Luke Denman and Airan Berry, implicated in an attempt to overthrow Maduro in 2019.

It also included the extradition to the United States of Leonard Glenn Francis, the Malaysian owner of a naval services company, who is the central character in one of the largest bribery scandals in the history of the Pentagon.

Saab now replaces mechanical engineer Pedro Tellechea, who spent nearly eight weeks at the head of the Ministry of Industry and National Production.

Last August, as part of a change in his cabinet, Maduro appointed Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, a close collaborator of Maduro, to replace Tellechea as Minister of Petroleum.

Delcy Rodríguez also remains in the position of vice president.

Tellechea, in January 2023, was appointed president of the state corporation Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and just two months later he also assumed the position of Minister of Petroleum after the resignation of Tareck El Aissami, in the midst of a wide-ranging anti-corruption investigation. which led to his arrest.