CARACAS, Venezuela – Socialist dictator President Nicolas Maduro on Monday night appointed alleged money laundering chief Alex Saab as the new head of his regime's International Investment Center.
Maduro claimed he wanted to use Saab's “international experience” to attract investment to his rogue socialist government. Saab is on trial in a U.S. court on money laundering charges and was pardoned by President Joe Biden in December as part of a prisoner exchange deal with Maduro.
“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Alex Saab Moran as the new Chairman of the Center for Productive Investment in Venezuela. He will use his experience to help bring investment to our country and bring it to economic strength in the world. He will give it to us,” Maduro told the National newspaper. Gather on Monday. “Alex, I have full trust in you.”
#EnVideo📹| Jefe de Estado @NicolasMaduro Alex Saab designed the Diplomat of Venezuela's new presidential production base.#Memoria Y Quenta 2023 pic.twitter.com/zriOgZKK8p
— VTV canal 8 (@VTVcanal8) January 15, 2024
Mr. Saab, a 51-year-old Colombian businessman, has long been suspected of being Mr. Maduro's personal financial brain and close ally. In 2019, the Justice Department charged him with using the U.S. banking system to launder $350 million from Venezuela's national treasury in offshore accounts as part of a bribery scheme involving shady affordable housing construction contracts. Indicted.
Saab was also instrumental in implementing Maduro's policies. Clap The program sells monthly boxes of low-quality, perishable food to Venezuelans at heavily subsidized prices.
American law enforcement officials arrested Saab in Cape Verde in 2020 and he was detained until his extradition to the United States in October 2021. He was then transferred to a federal prison in Miami, Florida to await trial. Maduro's government launched a massive multi-year social media campaign while Saab was in U.S. custody, claiming he had been “kidnapped” by the United States. motion They are demanding his immediate release.
Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens (right) and Colonel Mark Davis (right) greet Eivin Hernandez (left) as he disembarks from a plane upon arrival at Joint Base San Antonio-Kelly in San Antonio, Texas, on December 20. right). After being released in 2023 during a prisoner exchange agreement between the United States and Venezuela. On December 20, 2023, the United States traded 10 American detainees and a fugitive dubbed “Fat Leonard” for money laundering charges in Caracas in a sweeping prisoner-swap deal between rival governments. Alex Saab, an ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, was released. (Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty)
President Joe Biden forgiven Saab was arrested in December and sent back to Caracas as part of a prisoner exchange deal with the rogue socialist regime. In return, President Maduro released a group of unjustly imprisoned Americans and Venezuelan political dissidents.
This is President Biden's pardon that freed Alex Saab.
Important terms:
-The $12 million confiscated by the DEA will not be returned.
– Applies to a single case, so in theory, Saab could be indicted in a separate case in 2021 for food trafficking as “Co-conspirator 1”
-No book deal/Netflix series pic.twitter.com/wbe9ucknVQ— Joshua Goodman (@APjoshgoodman) December 22, 2023
President Maduro a few days after the prisoner exchange claimed In his podcast (one of his several media shows), he says that the group of unjustly detained Americans and Venezuelan dissidents is “a group of people who have been convicted and confessed.” He said this was different from Saab, who he described as an “innocent person.”
White House claimed Saab's release was announced in December as part of the Biden administration's strategy to curb the large influx of Venezuelan refugees who continue to enter the United States every day.
There are active arrest warrants for Saab, his wife Roman Camila Fabbri, and three of Fabbri's family members. issued He was indicted by Italian law enforcement authorities starting in 2022 on charges of money laundering and fraudulent transfer of assets.
The Center for International Production and Investment (CIIP), currently led by Saab, Establishment In 2020, President Maduro aimed to attract “local and foreign capital to boost the national economy.” The office is also tasked with “registering, investigating and tracking” sanctions imposed on the Maduro regime for continued human rights violations against Venezuelans.
Venezuelan journalist Roberto Deniz covered CLAP program corruption plan, explained He claimed that Saab's appointment as CIIP chief was a position “superior to the ministry” and that the Center even decides “to whom the ships are given”. [State-oil company] to PDVSA oil. ”
Biden administration takes office in November Award The Maduro government has implemented generous oil and gas sanctions relief measures. The sanctions relief measures currently in place will once again allow President Maduro to freely sell Venezuelan oil on the U.S. and international markets, restoring the rogue socialist regime's main source of income.
In return, President Maduro gave the United States a vague promise to hold “free and fair” presidential elections in the second half of 2024, but the socialist government has so far shown no signs of intending to follow through. Not yet.
At the time of writing, Venezuela do not set date In preparation for the 2024 presidential election. Additionally, the Maduro regime continues to maintain a ban on Maria Colina Machado. won 2023 primaries to run against President Maduro – Candidate or hold office until 2030.
Christian K. Caruso is a Venezuelan writer who chronicles life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
