this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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[–] amemorablename@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 1 hour ago

I'm curious, what's your assessment (if you have one) of the implications of this given everything you've read/posted about Venezuela in the past? It's easy for me to read it as a capitulation of some kind on the surface, but I don't know anything about Saab's actual history and whether he has meaningful ties to the revolution. The reuters source has this:

Saab could provide U.S. authorities with information to strengthen their criminal case against Maduro, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Maduro and his wife, ​Cilia Flores, ​were taken to ⁠New York in January to face criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism. They deny ​the charges.

But like, what would this even mean substantively. Maduro is obviously not a "narcoterrorist." But is Saab an important figure in Venezuelan political power or is this chasing ghosts and that's why the Venezuelan government is willing to go along with it? I guess the crux of what I'm wondering is, is it a move that consolidates power of a new order or is it a performative survival move to keep distracting the US from worse pressures? Like what is the material result of doing this.