You might remember that the Maduro regime went to extreme lengths to get Alex Saab back after the U.S. grabbed him off Cape Verde during a trip Saab was making to Iran in 2020. Maduro had fake diplomatic documents made up and backdated for Saab. He directed his fanboys in the West, like Sara Flounders and Roger Harris, to portray Saab as a martyr. They claimed Maduro had cancer, using the "diagnosis" of a pay-for-play fake doctor in London who never saw Saab.
Now the Rodriguez regime, it turns out, arrested Saab in February and just shipped him to the U.S. This is apparently the outcome of sharp disagreement among the capitalists of the Venezuelan regime. ____ Venezuela says it deported a close ally of Maduro to face criminal proceedings in US AP, May 16, 2026 (excerpts) Miami — Venezuela’s government said Saturday it deported a close ally of Nicolás Maduro. 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’s reference to Saab only as a “Colombian citizen” appeared to be a nod to Venezuelan law, which prohibits the extradition of its nationals. Saab, 54, amassed a fortune through Venezuelan government contracts. But he fell out of favor with the country’s new leadership that took power following Maduro’s ouster. Since taking over from Maduro on Jan. 3, Rodríguez demoted Saab, firing him from her Cabinet 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. The Associated Press reported in February that federal prosecutors have been digging for months into Saab’s role in an alleged bribery conspiracy involving Venezuelan government contracts to import food. The investigation centers around the so-called CLAP program set up by Maduro to provide staples — rice, corn flour, cooking oil — to poor Venezuelans struggling to feed themselves at a time of rampant hyperinflation and a crumbling currency. Saab 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. –Excerpted from https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-maduro-ally-057c22fe6e9b7022388eaeea2f1ecb52 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#41749): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/41749 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119354215/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
