Alex Saab was Minister of Industries since 2024, but was dismissed by Delcy Rodríguez on January 16. Caracol and Reuters claim that he was arrested along with Raúl Gorrín in Caracas. His lawyer, Luigi Giuliano, said the reports are false.
Colombian businessman Alex Saab was arrested in Caracas this Wednesday, February 4, according to international media reports. Snail was the first to announce his capture, citing military intelligence sources. Later, the agency Reuters He claimed to have confirmation from a US security official.
According to this information, Saab was arrested by agents of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin), with the assistance of United States police agencies, an unprecedented scenario in the Venezuela now governed by Delcy Rodríguez, and the day after ambassador Laura Dogu visited her in Miraflores.
So far, there have been no confirmations from Venezuelan authorities.
According to preliminary information, in the same procedure, businessman Raúl Gorrín, linked to business with Chavismo and sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department, was arrested. The American officer who spoke to Reuters confirmed both arrests.
According to Snailthe arrests occurred in the exclusive Cerro Verde urbanization, in the southeast of Caracas, where the respective residences were located. From there they would have been taken to the Sebin headquarters, in El Helicoide.
For its part, The Spectator of Colombia published that Luigi GiulianoSaab and Camilla Fabri’s lawyer, described the reports as “fake news” and assured that he was with the former minister during the morning, stating that he is free. “He is calm in Caracas and this afternoon I am going to see him again,” he said.
In parallel with the information about his arrest, his wife Camilla Fabri, wife of Alex Saab, was at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía this Wednesday, accompanied by officials from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin), to receive migrants deported from the US. She remains president of the Mission Vuelta a la Patria and an official in the Foreign Ministry.
#4Feb #AlexSaab @DarvinsonRojas: Camila Fabri de Saab, wife of businessman Alex Saab, was here this Wednesday pic.twitter.com/VffQ9mDbab at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, where accompanied by officials from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service…
— Report Now (@ReporteYa) February 4, 2026
For its part, andThe Venezuela News portal, an information and propaganda platform dependent on Saab, published a note denying the businessman’s arrest. The text was titled: “Fake news: false alleged arrest of Alex Saab spread by media outlets in Colombia and Miami.”
Minutes later it was deleted, although its director, Pedro Carvajalino, insisted on denying the matter on social networks.
Less than two weeks have passed since Saab was removed from the Ministry of Industries and National Production. The businessman, Nicolás Maduro’s right-hand man and accused of being his front man, had been appointed to that position after his return to Venezuela in 2023, after spending more than two years detained in the United States accused of money laundering.
His departure from the cabinet occurred during the rearrangement announced by interim president Delcy Rodríguez, just 11 days after the military capture of Nicolás Maduro, today in Washington custody.
«I thank colleague Álex Saab for his work in the service of the Homeland; who will assume new responsibilities,” Rodríguez wrote. However, to date, Saab had not been appointed to another position.
Who are Saab and Gorrín?
Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, in 1971, Alex Saab consolidated his fortune as a contractor for the Venezuelan State, especially in the supply of food for the CLAP (Local Supply and Production Committees) program and in social housing construction projects. Both businesses have been investigated and accused of being part of a corruption scheme full of overpricing, poor quality products and unfinished works.
The United States accused him of conspiracy to launder more than $350 million in Venezuelan public contracts. Between 2020 and 2023 he faced litigation in the United States, after being deported from Cape Verde, but was released in a prisoner exchange with Caracas during the Joe Biden government.
Upon his return to Venezuela, Saab was received with honors by Chavismo. Maduro then described him as a loyal “hero.”
Raúl Gorrín, for his part, is a businessman who owns media outlets in Venezuela who has also been accused of participating in money laundering schemes and multimillion-dollar embezzlements in the Venezuelan oil industry, with a dozen judicial charges before a court in Miami, Florida, where he has properties. The former treasurer of the Venezuelan Nation, Alejandro Andrade, pleaded guilty and pointed him out as part of the plot.
Gorrín has been sanctioned by the United States since 2019.
Although it was said that Saab could be extradited to the United States, the Venezuelan government has defended him as a naturalized Venezuelan citizen, which would constitute a constitutional impediment. Same case with Raúl Gorrín.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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