Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, on Friday dismissed businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of deposed leader Nicolás Maduro, from his position as minister of industry and national production, in a high-profile cabinet reshuffle amid mounting international pressure.
In a post on Telegram, Rodríguez said the ministry would be merged with the Ministry of Commerce National, to be led by Luis Antonio Villegas, and thanked Saab, a Colombian-born Venezuelan “for his service to the Homeland,” adding that he would take on new responsibilities.
The move comes as Rodríguez continues to implement changes in government following a US military operation on January 3 that resulted in Maduro’s ouster, a broad shift in Venezuelan politics that has also seen other key ministries reorganised.
Saab, who was arrested in 2020 in Cape Verde at the request of US authorities on money-laundering and corruption charges linked to his work for the Maduro government, was extradited to the United States and later freed in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange. Upon his return to Venezuela, he was appointed industry minister in October 2024.
His dismissal marks one of the most prominent removals of a Maduro confidant from the Venezuelan cabinet since Rodríguez assumed interim leadership and underscores ongoing shifts in the country’s political alignment amid external diplomatic and economic pressures.
AFP
