CARACAS: Venezuela’s interim president on Friday dismissed businessman Alex Saab, accused of working as a entrance man for deposed chief Nicolas Maduro, from his submit as minister of trade.
In a Telegram message, Delcy Rodriguez introduced the ministry can be mixed with a commerce ministry and thanked Saab — a Colombian-born Venezuelan — “for his service to the Homeland; he can be taking up new tasks.”
The change comes amid stress from Washington following the January 3 US navy raid that ousted Maduro.
Saab, launched in 2023 as a part of a prisoner alternate with the USA, was appointed to workplace in 2024 by Maduro.
A confidant of then-president Maduro, Saab was arrested throughout a 2020 refueling stopover in Cape Verde attributable to an Interpol discover over accusations he had served as a cash launderer for the socialist chief.
He was extradited to the USA the place he and his enterprise associate Alvaro Pulido had been charged with working a community that exploited meals help destined for Venezuela.
Upon his launch, Saab was given a hero’s welcome in Caracas. He assumed workplace as minister of trade in October 2024.
Saab’s dismissal is among the many newest key modifications to Venezuela’s authorities by Rodriguez for the reason that US seize of Maduro and his spouse Cilia Flores.
