The Venezuelan government deported Alex Saab, a businessman ​and ally of former President Nicolas Maduro, to the United States, El Pais reported on May 16.

Saab was first arrested in Cabo Verde in 2020 and remained under U.S. custody over bribery charges until 2023, when he was released in a prisoner swap. He was then rearrested in February 2026 in Caracas, and the Rodriguez administration subsequently stripped Saab of his Venezuelan citizenship before Drug Enforcement Administration agents took him into custody in Miami on May 16. Saab is considered to have been Maduro's frontman and the financial enabler of his administration.