Saab with Maduro and Rodríguez during a government event in December 2025. (EFE)
Caracas, February 6, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Luigi Giuliano, attorney for former Venezuelan diplomat and Industry Minister Alex Saab, has denied reports that his client was arrested in Caracas on Wednesday.
“It is simply not true that he has been arrested,” Giuliano told Reuters, adding that Saab hoped to meet with Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez “for clarification.”
Colombian outlet Caracol claimed on Wednesday afternoon that Saab and prominent Venezuelan businessman Raúl Gorrín had been detained by Venezuela’s intelligence agency, the SEBIN.
An anonymous US official confirmed the arrest to Reuters, while other sources alleged that Saab and Gorrín were brought in for questioning concerning US money laundering charges as part of law enforcement cooperation between Caracas and Washington.
The two countries have expedited diplomatic rapprochement in the wake of the US’ January 3 bombings and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro. The Trump White House has sought to coerce the Rodríguez acting administration, including by administering Venezuelan crude exports.
Venezuelan officials have yet to issue any official statement concerning the two high-profile figures, whose whereabouts are presently unknown.
National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez stated on Wednesday that he had no information about the case. On Thursday, Attorney General Tarek William Saab initially denied the arrest reports before stating instead that he had no knowledge of the matter.
Alex Saab and Gorrín have made no public statements since Wednesday. Saab’s wife, Camilla Fabbri, who heads the government’s “Return to the Homeland” repatriation program, posted on social media about the arrival of a deportation flight from the US on Friday, but offered no comment on her husband’s rumored arrest.
A Colombian-born businessman, Saab became a key ally and diplomatic envoy of the Maduro government for his role in securing imports amid US sanctions. He was arrested in 2020 on US orders during a stop in Cape Verde and was extradited to the US following a long legal battle.
Venezuelan authorities, alongside lawyers and activists, launched a sustained campaign to denounce Saab’s arrest in violation of his diplomatic immunity and demand his release. He spent more than three years in prison, facing money laundering conspiracy charges, before Caracas secured his freedom as part of a prisoner exchange deal with the Biden administration in December 2023.
Saab was appointed industry minister by Maduro in October 2024 and was replaced by Luis Villegas in January under the acting Rodríguez administration.
For his part, Gorrín has been blacklisted by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and charged by the US Justice Department with corruption and money laundering.
Gorrín is the owner of La Vitalicia insurance and the private TV broadcaster Globovisión.