On May 16, 2026, Alex Saab, once a diplomat serving Venezuela who had already suffered imprisonment at the hands of the United States, was turned over to the United States once again. Interim president Delcy Rodriguez’s action against Saab was one of treachery and should be referred to as such. The pain of seeing the Bolivarian revolution being picked apart by Donald Trump with the help of some willing participants in Venezuela is devastating to anyone who supported the rights of sovereignty and self-determination for that country and its people. That pain must be acknowledged and expressed, but it cannot turn into a denial of what we are witnessing. It is clear that there has been a high-level betrayal of Chavismo and the Bolivarian revolution, and the evidence cannot be ignored any longer.
Alex Saab was serving as a Venezuelan diplomat in 2020 when the maximum pressure campaign of unilateral coercive measures deprived Venezuela of the ability to provide food for its people. Saab traveled internationally, repeatedly to Iran, in order to break this sanctions blockade. On one of those trips on June 12, 2020, his plane stopped in Cabo Verde, an island nation located off the west coast of Africa, to refuel, and he was arrested on orders of the United States and in violation of Cabo Verde law.
Saab’s rights of diplomatic immunity were violated first by Trump and then by the Joe Biden administration, which kidnapped him again in 2021 and sent him to Miami, Florida, to face U.S. charges. After three long years of captivity, Biden granted Saab clemency and freed him as part of a prisoner swap in December 2023, and he returned to Venezuela. But as fate would have it, he still was not safe.
Saab, like Rodriguez and other Venezuelan officials, is under U.S. indictment. The use of lawfare has been perfected by this second Trump administration, and President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, First Combatant Cilia Flores, are being held in a New York City jail as a result. The U.S. had no right to kidnap Saab in 2020, to send him to the U.S. in 2021 or to send him back again. The U.S. has no right to kidnap the Maduro and Flores either. These prosecutions violate international law and are even dubious under U.S. law. But if no one confronts the U.S. forcefully, any such rules aren’t worth the paper they are written on.
The question of this latest violation of Saab’s rights raises a bigger question about who is running Venezuela. Delcy Rodriguez is the nominal head of state, but she is following Washington’s orders. The January 3, 2026, kidnapping of Maduro and Flores has created a very strange situation. On that day, there was a firefight with U.S. forces that killed 32 of the Cubans who protected Maduro. Although the large-scale invasion that was feared didn’t take place, the end result is the same because Washington is calling the shots in the capital city of Caracas.
The U.S. strategy of removing Maduro and then having a compliant successor do its bidding was an act of evil genius. Now, Trump brags about Venezuela becoming the 51st state. He does not mean that literally of course. He wouldn’t make millions of Black and brown Venezuelans U.S. citizens, but the point is clear. The U.S. is stealing Venezuela’s oil revenue and preventing any of its oil from reaching Cuba and China, too. Every U.S. proposal for neo-liberal “reform” is being enacted by the new Venezuelan state while meetings with CIA officials publicly take place in Caracas.
In the wake of the January 3rd kidnapping, there was much debate about whether Maduro had been betrayed in a deal with the U.S. and, if so, by whom. Most conjecture pointed to Delcy Rodriguez as the perpetrator but the answer to that question is not and perhaps will never be known. In any case, such a question leads nowhere and isn’t the issue that should be pondered at this moment.
The issue is not about any individual but about the Bolivarian revolution and whether or not high-ranking officials in the United Socialist Party (PSUV) were actually still in support of it. Years of maximum pressure devastated Venezuela’s infrastructure, healthcare system, and most importantly its oil production. The constant pressure of fighting the U.S. hegemon is one that can only be withstood by true revolutionaries. If no one truly fits that description, the day comes when a critical mass heads for the exits, succumbs to the U.S., and little by little begins dismantling Chavismo.
Anti-imperialists are justified in feeling sadness or anger while watching the project they defended for many years being destroyed. But denials and refusals to name what is playing out before our eyes are not justified and do nothing to help the Venezuelan people, who are at Washington’s mercy.
It was rumored as early as February that Saab was in custody. No one can say why the U.S. chose to move when it did, but the Rodriguez government has been working to give an appearance of normalcy while also carrying out Washington’s wishes. The betrayal of Saab will go down in history as a turning point, which makes it harder to ignore the obvious. The rationales for the treachery were odd. Contradictory statements describe both a deportation and an extradition. First, it was said that he was a Colombian citizen and not a Venezuelan. If so, it is difficult to explain how a non-citizen represented Venezuela internationally or why he wasn’t sent to Colombia instead of to the U.S. Also, Venezuela has no extradition treaty with the U.S., which makes that explanation a lie as well.
The rhetorical contortions show that the game is up. Anti-imperialists may feel a sense of loss as they watch the state they once defended now take part in deception against its own people. The only thing worse than that is self-deception, which too many leftists have engaged in ever since January 3rd. It is time to shake out the cobwebs and ask very simple questions. Why would the U.S. kidnap the president and then allow Venezuela to act on its own behalf? It is absurd to think that such a scenario might be true. Snatching two people while seeming to leave the state intact was a very shrewd move that ensured U.S. control without incurring the political risks that come with war and invasion.
Cuba is also under threat from the U.S. The latest iteration of the 60-year-long blockade has cut off its oil supply. There is scarce gasoline and electricity, and Cubans from infancy to old age are dying as a result. The Trump administration has indicted 94-year-old Raúl Castro as well. Like Venezuela, Cuba is told that giving up its revolution will result in the resumption of aid and fuel.
It cannot and should not be denied that the U.S. has secured long-held plans to cut off energy to China and to destroy socialist nations in this hemisphere. But recognition of those facts requires truthfulness on the part of anti-imperialists. Alex Saab being sent to the U.S. gulag makes a mockery of any efforts to explain away what the current Venezuelan government is doing to its people.
The situation is dire, and that means serious analysis, not wishful thinking, is the order of the day for anyone claiming to be an anti-imperialist. Not only is Saab once again in U.S. hands, but the corporate media smear him by referring to him as a money launderer, a “bagman,” and a billionaire tycoon, spreading every war propaganda narrative from the Trump administration. The moment is indeed disheartening, but like every other difficult moment, it must be confronted as it is.
The questions are serious and hard to answer for those who are not in Venezuela, but perhaps international supporters are not the people whose guidance should be sought after. The people of Venezuela will ultimately decide what to do about the traitors in their midst. The decades of support for their struggle has to continue with honesty and humility. Venezuelans have acted on their own behalf in the past, such as undoing a 2002 military coup against Hugo Chavez in just two days.
Those in the “belly of the beast” also have a hard task ahead. What have our years of support and visits to Venezuela amounted to? Most USians are convinced that Nicolas Maduro is a drug dealer and they think that is true because that is what they have been told over and over again. The same people who might oppose an invasion are nonchalant if their government undermines another and causes suffering in the process. That acceptance of human rights violations is an indication that our work is not done.
Regardless of how we proceed outside of Venezuela, we must admit that the current state has, at the very least, chosen the path of least resistance and is merely performing as it claims to uphold its sovereignty. It would be very tragic if supporters of the Venezuelan people also engaged in performance instead of acting upon what is obviously true. But the betrayal does not have to be permanent. What kind of struggle are we willing to undertake alongside the Venezuelan people? The answer to that question will determine how long Venezuela will live under imperialist control.
Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret.kimberley@blackagendareport.com.
source: Black Agenda Report