Venezuela's interim government has deported Alex Saab, the Colombia-born businessman who served as a close financial associate of ousted president Nicolás Maduro, to the United States, in a move that underscores the fragility of the ruling coalition in Caracas four months after Maduro's capture by US forces.

The country's immigration authority, Saime, announced on May 16 that Saab, whom it identified as a Colombian national, had been expelled "in compliance with the regulatory provisions of Venezuelan immigration law" and in consideration of his alleged involvement "in the commission of various crimes in the United States of America." Venezuela's constitution prohibits the extradition of Venezuelan citizens, but the government resolved the legal tension by classifying Saab as Colombian, allowing his removal to be framed as a deportation.

Saab, 54, had been a central figure in Chavismo's financial networks for more than a decade. Born in Barranquilla and of Lebanese origin, he built a sprawling import empire on the back of state contracts, allegedly laundering some $350mn through two flagship social programmes: the Gran Misión Vivienda housing initiative and the CLAP food distribution scheme for low-income families. US prosecutors charged that his companies supplied overpriced, substandard goods while funnelling kickbacks through shell companies registered in Mexico and Hong Kong and accounts in Panama, Ecuador, Antigua and Barbuda, and Switzerland.

He was first arrested in Cape Verde in June 2020 after his aircraft stopped to refuel while he was travelling to Iran, and was extradited to the United States in October 2021 to face a conspiracy to commit money laundering charge carrying a potential 20-year prison term. In December 2023, however, he was freed in a prisoner exchange brokered by the Biden administration, in a deal that also released ten American citizens and roughly 20 Venezuelan political prisoners.

Following his return to Caracas, Maduro rewarded him with a cabinet appointment, naming him industry and national production minister in October 2024 — a position from which interim president Delcy Rodríguez removed him in January, just weeks after US forces extracted Maduro from Venezuela and whisked him to New York to face drug trafficking charges. His wife, Camilla Fabri, who had served as deputy minister for international communication, was also dismissed in February.

Saab's transfer to American custody had been anticipated for months. The New York Times reported in March that the Trump administration had been negotiating the move, and that US prosecutors had filed a fresh corruption indictment against him in Miami following Maduro's capture. Venezuelan intelligence agents, working alongside the FBI, were reported to have detained Saab at a Caracas residence in early February.

His deportation risks deepening fissures within Rodríguez's already fragile governing coalition. Senior Chavista officials who remain in post may interpret the move as evidence that proximity to the Maduro era no longer affords protection, and that Washington's demands on the interim administration extend well beyond symbolic gestures.

Rodríguez, Maduro's former vice-president, has sought to demonstrate close cooperation with the Trump administration since assuming the interim presidency, releasing more than 400 political prisoners, proposing legislation to open Venezuela's vast oil reserves and mining sector to private investment, and replacing several Maduro-era security officials. President Donald Trump has repeatedly praised her as a “terrific person” who is “doing a great job,” and Washington formally recognised her as Venezuela's sole legitimate leader in early March. It was the first time the US had extended such recognition to a Caracas government since withdrawing it from Maduro in 2019. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made clear that further pressure awaits Rodriguez should she fail to meet American expectations.