• Venezuela: Venezuelan opposition deputies, involved in the purchase of votes against Juan Guaidó

The United States has made a full impact on Chavismo's waterline by obtaining the capture in Cape Verde of the Colombian businessman Alex Saab, indicated as the main figurehead of Nicolás Maduro by Washington and by the Venezuelan rebel prosecutor, Luisa Ortega. An unprecedented blow: the Barranquilla businessman is a fundamental key to the smuggling of gold and to the government-developed subsidized food system.

His lawyers have confirmed to the Ap agency the capture of his defendant, advanced last night by 'El Tiempo' in Bogotá, while local media advance that the United States intends to extradite him immediately.

The private aircraft, with Venezuelan registration, that took off from Caracas on Friday stopped in Cape Verde to load fuel. Unofficial sources confirmed to the Colombian newspaper that the device covered the Russia-Iran route. Saab has participated in the operation mounted in recent weeks by the Tehran government, which sent five gasoline freighters to Venezuela in exchange for tons of gold .

The arrest comes just three days after Colombian authorities confiscated part of the businessman's properties, who is on the Treasury Department's "black list" and is sanctioned by the Washington Government. The long list of accusations against him include illicit enrichment, money laundering, fictitious export or import and fraud , as well as being named as the head of the corruption scheme in Venezuela. "He seized millionaire resources destined to the purchase of food and markets that reached higher and broken prices," the Colombian Prosecutor's Office summarized last week.

The presidency of Nicolás Maduro since 2013 cannot be explained without the presence of the Colombian businessman, who appears in many of the dirty businesses of the Bolivarian revolution and who also promoted the last Chavista assault on the democratic Parliament. The group of opposition deputies who maneuvered with Chavismo to seize the fraudulent presidency of the National Assembly traveled to Europe several times in 2019 to defend the interests of the businessman. Luis Parra, his main contact, is not recognized as legislative head in the world, except for Cuba and Russia.

On the radar

"The scope of the arrest is infinite," stressed I ván Simonovis , special security commissioner of the interim presidency of Venezuela and one of Juan Guaidó's main ties to Washington. "It is clear that the intelligence agencies are being effective. On the radar are, inside and outside of Venezuela, partners, front men and friends of those who make criminal life with the regime," said the former political prisoner, now exiled in the United States.

Among the accusations pending against the close friend of the "son of Chávez", the laundering of 350 million dollars through the exchange control system of the revolution stands out. The Treasury Department also held him responsible for the gigantic corruption mechanism put in place with the CLAP subsidized food boxes, the Bolivarian version of the Cuban ration book.

Its tentacles, companies and businesses have also been extended to facilitate the latest revolutionary operations that seek to evade US sanctions, from smuggling gold to the gasoline business with Iran.

The millionaire adventures of the businessman of Lebanese origin were closely marked and denounced by the informative portal armando.info, which cost the persecution and exile of journalists Ewald Scharfenberg, Roberto Deniz, Alfredo Meza and Joseph Poliszuk . In investigation after investigation, the team of reporters did not shy away from threats from the almighty businessman and his political friends, bringing to light how they were reselling Mexican food to Chavismo through a Hong Kong registered company, hired later by Maduro to buy medicine from India.

The link is so close between the presidential power and the Barranquilla businessman that in 2018 Maduro imposed an employee of Saab and his partner Álvaro Pulido at the head of the Ministry of Mining and Ecological Development. It was Adrián Perdomo, who from that moment took charge of exports and gold smuggling to Turkey. All of them included the US Treasury Department in their sanctions.

Saab also benefited from oil contracts, dollar auctions, and a millionaire plan to install vertical gyms.

"My rejection is emphatic in the face of this persecution," Saab defended himself after learning of the sanctions decreed against him and when he was already being persecuted in both the United States and Colombia . "The only objective of the United States is to suffocate the Venezuelan government and they believe that by running over businessmen they will achieve their goal. I trust that the truth of all this infamy will triumph one day," he added.

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  • United States
  • Venezuela
  • Nicolás Maduro
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  • Juan Guaidó
  • Venezuela Elections

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