Venezuela’s government says it has deported a close ally of Nicolás Maduro, identified by several outlets as businessman Alex Saab, to the United States to face judicial proceedings. The announcement comes less than three years after Saab was pardoned by U.S. President Joe Biden as part of a prisoner swap.
Multiple reports describe the same basic sequence of events: Venezuelan authorities characterize the deportation as a step tied to legal processes in the U.S., while U.S. actions earlier in the period involved a pardon connected to the exchange of prisoners. The outlets do not uniformly provide additional detail about the specific charges or the jurisdiction in the U.S., but they agree on the central claim—that Venezuela has sent Saab to the U.S. for court proceedings.
Overall, the reporting reflects a dispute within a broader context of U.S.-Venezuela negotiations and legal cases involving Maduro allies. Venezuela’s statement is presented as the initiating account, with the focus on the timing relative to the prior U.S. pardon.
