CARACAS (Dispatches) – A fugitive businessman accused of acting as a money launderer for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government has been extradited to the United States from Cape Verde, U.S. justice officials said.
The Justice Department said in a statement that Alex Saab was due to appear in court in Florida on Monday.
Venezuela reacted furiously, suspending talks with the U.S.-backed opposition on ending the country’s political and economic crisis.
The speaker of Congress, Jorge Rodriguez, said on Saturday that the government will not attend the next session “as a deep expression of our protest against the brutal aggression” against Alex Saab.
Venezuela’s Ministry of Communications denounced his extradition as a “kidnapping.”
Caracas had intended to name Saab a part of the delegation to the talks in Mexico City.
The U.S. charged Saab in 2019 in connection with a bribery scheme and sanctioned him for allegedly orchestrating a corruption network that allowed Caracas to profit from a state-run food subsidy program.
Saab’s lawyers have denied the U.S. charges as “politically motivated.”
U.S.-backed opposition figure Juan Guaido reacted to the decision to suspend the talks, accusing the government of evading the nation’s problems.
The negotiations mediated by Norway and hosted by Mexico aim to resolve the years-long crisis in the Latin American country.
Caracas aims to ease U.S.-led sanctions on the Venezuelan nation while the opposition says it aims to use the talks to secure guarantees for regional elections to be held in the fall.
Guaido sparked a political crisis in January 2019, after unilaterally declaring himself “interim president.”
Washington has imposed several rounds of sanctions against Venezuela aimed at ousting Maduro and replacing him with Guaido. The sanctions, which include illegal confiscation of Venezuelan assets abroad and an economic blockade, have caused enormous suffering to millions of people in the country.