image1
Alex Saab (L) and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro embrace following Saab’s release from a US prison and arrival in Venezuela, December 20, 2023.

The United States and Venezuela have swapped prisoners, including a fugitive dubbed ‘Fat Leonard.’

Following an agreement reached between Washington and Caracas, American authorities on Wednesday released Alex Saab, a Colombian national and a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in exchange for 10 American detainees.

Standing beside Maduro at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Saab thanked the Venezuelan leader, saying that "today the miracle of freedom, the miracle of justice, has become a reality."

Washington had accused Saab of purported money laundering for Caracas.

Venezuelan authorities also extradite Leonard Francis, the notorious and once portly defense contractor known as "Fat Leonard", to the US. He is accused of scamming the US Navy out of millions of dollars for more than a decade.

Being at the center of the US Navy’s worst-ever corruption scandal, known as the so-called "Fat Leonard scandal", Francis fled to Venezuela via Mexico and Cuba last year after managing to cut off his electronic tagging device.

As part of the Qatar-brokered agreement, Caracas also released 20 Venezuelan political prisoners.

The US has been easing the pressure on Venezuela. Washington agreed in October to scale back sanctions related to oil and gas.

US President Joe Biden’s administration had said it would lift some long-standing sanctions in exchange for democratic concessions from Caracas. However, following the Barbados agreement, it was yet unclear if the crippling US sanctions would be lifted.

Over the past decade, the US economic sanctions banning Caracas from using its oil reserves, which are the country’s most valuable asset, has plunged the socialist-led South American country into a heavy crisis, forcing millions of Venezuelans to leave the country.