Gustavo Petro affirms that Alex Saab is Colombian and is linked to drug trafficking

Gustavo Petro, president of Colombiarecently reiterated that the recently appointed Minister of Industry and National Production of the government of Venezuela, Alex Saab, He is Colombian and has ties to drug trafficking.

Saab, an ally of the Venezuelan government and accused of being one of the main figureheads of Nicolás Maduro, was detained for money laundering in the United States, but was released as part of a prisoner exchange with Venezuela in December 2023.

For years now, Petro has said in interviews with local media that Saab is a “shrewd businessman”in clear reference to the triangulation and marketing businesses with imported foods in Venezuela.

“Today it is the strongest, but it could be the weak link that unravels this network of articulation between political power and drug trafficking,” said the president.

Alex Saab, the minister who today wants to sell Monómeros, is the same one that Gustavo Petro said is linked to drug trafficking, he is Colombian and was an astute businessman who played with the hunger of Venezuelans like many. https://t.co/8zGid3T90n pic.twitter.com/VClubZMi6D

— Cesar Moya (@zuricht94) November 9, 2024

Alex Saab, key piece of the Maduro government

In 2020, Alex Saab was detained during a stopover in Cape Verde en route to Iran, where he was heading to negotiate oil deals on behalf of Venezuela, and later extradited to the United States where he was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering linked to a bribery scheme that allegedly diverted $350 million through state contracts to build affordable housing for the national government.

However, Joe Biden’s government granted him freedom in an exchange for 10 Americans detained in Venezuela and 14 political prisoners, in December 2023.

Then he landed in Maiquetía accompanied by the president of the Chavista-majority Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez. When he got off the plane, he was met by the first lady and deputy to the National Assembly Cilia Flores, who took him to the Miraflores Palace where Maduro received him with hugs and effusiveness.

The North American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, justified the release of Saab, a key player in the investigation of the corrupt plot of the Venezuelan government, stating that President Biden had as a priority the release of Americans detained abroad.

Saab was recently appointed Minister of Industry and National Production of Venezuelawhere it is in charge of more than a hundred companies and institutions, among which the Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana stands out, marred since 2023 by a corruption scandal for which the former Minister of Petroleum Tareck el Aissami was arrested.