Alex Saab, a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, cooperated with U.S. authorities for nearly a year starting in 2018 by forfeiting funds and serving as a confidential source, according to a U.S. court filing unsealed on Wednesday. Saab agreed to be an "active law enforcement source" for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and later confessed to paying bribes to Venezuelan officials, U.S. prosecutors said in the filing. In 2019, they told him he would face criminal charges if he did not voluntarily surrender, according to the filing. A lawyer for Saab, David Rivkin, said in a statement that Saab only met with U.S. law enforcement officials to explain that his companies had done nothing wrong, adding that Venezuela was fully aware of his engagement with those officials. The news could be an embarrassment to Maduro's government, which has championed Saab as a special envoy who helped Venezuela's government conduct business deals under the radar of U.S. sanctions meant to force the ruling Socialist Party from power. The government of Argentina said Wednesday that it would investigate reports that Argentine troops engaged in military exercises and games during the Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) presidency that “contemplated” an invasion of Venezuela. The announcement came two days after Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro called for “an objective investigation” into the claims, which were first reported last Sunday by journalist Horacio Verbitsky’s online outlet, El Cohete a la Luna. On Wednesday, Argentina’s Defence Minister Jorge Taiana told the Télam state news agency that he has requested “an exhaustive and detailed report” to determine “whether the current regulations were complied with, the law on Intelligence, Defence, Internal Security, as well as the nature and objectives of the exercise.” Taking aim at the opposition, Taiana said Macri’s centre-right government, which at the time formed part of the US-backed Lima Group, had “an interventionist attitude in Venezuela” and that the open investigation “will allow us to clearly establish the political and military responsibilities arising from the events.” Maduro on Monday demanded answers regarding “preparations by the Argentine Army to invade Venezuela from Colombian territory," which he linked to the United States and Macri's recognition of opposition leader and then-National Assembly speaker Juan Guaidó (who was also recognised by some 50 other countries) as Venezuela's acting president in 2019. During a news conference last Thursday, the president of the National Assembly (AN), Jorge Rodrguez, denied the cooperation linkages uncovered between Colombian billionaire and Nicolás Maduro government envoy, Alex Saab, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Moreover last week, leaked banking data reveals Venezuelans who have been convicted or indicted for looting the country's state oil company stashed their ill-gotten wealth in accounts with Credit Suisse, the OCCRP reported last week. More than two dozen Venezuelans linked to four corruption schemes in the state oil company, PDVSA, amassed assets worth at least $273m in 25 accounts. Nearly all of them were opened between 2004 and 2015, when billions of dollars were embezzled from PDVSA, including for people who had already been publicly implicated in corruption schemes. At least a dozen of the accounts — which belonged to people implicated in the schemes, their family members and business partners — are not mentioned in court documents.
Bloomberg reported last week that the European electoral observation mission to Venezuela will present its final report remotely, opting not return to the country after tensions with President Nicolas Maduro spilled over last year. The European Union observers, who fanned out across the country for the Nov. 21 regional elections, said in a statement released Thursday that they will hold a virtual presentation of their findings on Feb. 22. That’s a u-turn from what the mission’s head, Isabel Santos, had said in November, when she pledged to bring the report to the country in person by late January or early February.
Last but not least, last week, Officials from the U.S., the EU and 19 other countries urged the resumption of negotiations between the Venezuelan govt and the political opposition in Mexico City and reiterated their willingness to review sanctions policies based on “meaningful progress” in those talks, according to a statement from the State Department. |
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