The Colombian officer who uncovered the face of Saab, the alleged figurehead of Maduro

Before the United States laid eyes on Alex Saab, the alleged front man of Nicolás Maduro detained in Miami, in Colombia a police officer obsessively followed his steps until he reached an international money laundering network.

In 2011, the now retired general Juan Carlos Buitrago, former director of the Tax and Customs Police, received the mission to track down an unknown bankrupt Lebanese businessman, involved in apparent fictitious exports to Australia.

Saab drew attention for its high-level connections with the Chavista government and later, in the midst of the debacle of the Venezuelan economy, for its purchases abroad for the subsidized food distribution program known as CLAP.

Buitrago was one of the first to profile the Colombian as “one of Maduro’s most important front men.”

“An investigative task force was formed with the federal agencies of the United States and that allowed us to advance in all the financial analysis and in the strengthening of the indictments (accusations) against him and other people in the United States,” he recalls. in an interview with AFP.

Saab, 49, managed to escape the siege of the Colombian police. But in June 2020 he was arrested during a stopover in Cape Verde at the request of the US justice, which charged him with money laundering. Already extradited, he pleaded not guilty and awaits his trial in Miami for the first days of 2022.

Maduro tried unsuccessfully to prevent the delivery of Saab to the United States, even granting him Venezuelan nationality and an ambassadorial title.

In the sections of the following interview, Buitrago describes the figure of Saab.

Why is Alex Saab so important to the government of Nicolás Maduro?

He was, along with Álvaro Pulido (a fugitive), one of the front men used by the Maduro regime to monetize the money it needed to survive, as a result of the transactions of gold, fuel and CLAP boxes.

That made Alex Saab create many companies, more than 46 companies that involved many people in the region. Saab was already directly fulfilling commercial functions with the friendly countries of Venezuela: with Turkey, China, Russia, Iran … even in Lebanon. But in the rest of the countries that are not friends of the regime, it used front companies and third parties.

He received gold and carried out the gold transactions to monetize the money and return it to the regime, and he also used fuel businesses. And through other businesses, including the CLAP boxes, he was in charge of obtaining in different countries of the world – both in Asia, Central America, South America and Colombia – all the supplies and supplies to assemble the CLAP boxes to deliver them to the government. of Maduro. This was done with very poor quality products and also at an extra cost that allowed him to have important profits, but also to generate profits for the other officials of the regime.

How did you get the money out of Venezuela?

All the assets of the Venezuelan people, mineral resources such as gold, oil especially, allowed him to trade all those assets abroad: open accounts in tax havens, including Switzerland, and secure money for the regime, but also for himself. That was the illicit financial circle that allowed him to profit, but also to have money and assets at the service of the regime. Operations are estimated at between US $ 350 million and US $ 500 million per year.

What is the connection with Colombia?

In Colombia, a level of financial investigation was reached on the operators, the front men, the front companies. There were about 46 companies with more than eighty people involved, but the heads were not identified.

There are involved of all nuances: lawyers here and in other countries who also acted as front men and who helped him launder money, clean his capital and carry out transactions, businessmen, political leaders who facilitated negotiations and also received money in exchange. And all the operators that created front companies behind which were Alex Saab and Álvaro Pulido. Criminal businesses around interests to launder money, to profit and to allow the survival of the regime.