DEA Escorted Alex Saab From Venezuela to Miami After Deportation

Alex Saab, described as the frontman of Nicolás Maduro, was deported from Venezuela to the United States and landed at Opa-Locka Executive Airport in Miami-Dade County at 21:15 local time (01:15 GMT on Sunday), escorted by federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

“A busy night for the Delcy brothers and Jorge Rodríguez”

El Mundo

The KCH FM report says Saab was transferred in custody from El Helicoide to Simón Bolívar International Airport at Maiquetía, where a Gulfstream jet with U.S. registration N550GA awaited to depart for Opa-Locka, with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) involved and oversight by the U.S. State Department and the Department of Justice.

El Mundo

Le Point says Saab returned to Caracas on December 20, 2023 after two years of provisional detention in the United States in the Miami federal prison, and it quotes Maduro saying, "After 1,280 days of detention, the truth has triumphed."

Le Point also says the U.S. justice system exonerated Saab from all charges after a secretly negotiated agreement brokered through Qatar, while KCH FM says U.S. federal authorities in Miami accuse Saab of leading money-laundering and corruption schemes with funds from the Venezuelan state.

KCH FM adds that the investigation points to operations involving hundreds of millions of dollars linked to public-food contracts, especially the CLAP program, and it says U.S. prosecutors filed an indictment for corruption against Saab in Miami in January.

Le Point reports that the U.S. State Department described the Qatar-brokered exchange as "a difficult decision," while Republican Senator Marco Rubio called it a "shame."

In contrast, El Mundo says Venezuela’s acting president and head of the legislative body proceeded to erase social media praises of Saab, whom they had considered a "national hero," after he was handed over to the U.S. to face money-laundering and corruption charges.

KCH FM

El Mundo quotes Jorge Rodríguez from 2022, saying, "We denounce his kidnapping to the whole world! An act of retaliation was carried out against Alex Saab," during the "Free Alex Saab" campaign.

KCH FM says SAIME confirmed the deportation and that the measure was adopted considering that the Colombian citizen is involved in the commission of various crimes in the United States of America, as public, well known and widely reported.

KCH FM further states that the formal charges include criminal conspiracy, money laundering, and paying bribes to Venezuelan officials, and it says Saab allegedly falsified documents and used intermediaries to facilitate international transfers of public funds.

KCH FM says Saab had previously been imprisoned in the United States from October 2021 to December 2023, returned to Venezuela after receiving a pardon from then-President Joe Biden, and in October 2024 was named Minister of Industry and National Production before being dismissed by acting president Delcy Rodríguez two weeks after the U.S. operation in Caracas that culminated in Maduro's capture.

“He returned to Caracas as a hero”

Le Point

El Mundo says agents from the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and the American FBI forcibly removed Saab from his mansion and transported him to the Helicoide prison, where he remained until his recent transfer to Fort Tiuna.

El Mundo adds that one key question in the legal battle is whether Saab will ultimately become a witness in the case against his friend Maduro in the New York court.

KCH FM quotes Iván Simonovis, stating via X that the transfer "could become one of the most important witnesses in the Nicolás Maduro case," and it says Simonovis described how narcoterrorism charges encompass entire networks, including how money circulates and who benefits.

KCH FM concludes with Simonovis saying the justice system could advance methodically over the next 12 months, witness by witness, document by document, and network by network.