On 12 June, Alex Saab was arrested in Cape Verde on an INTERPOL notice. Upon Saab's arrest, Venezuela's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jorge Arreaza, revealed that Saab was not only a Venezuelan citizen but an agent of Nicolas Maduro's regime travelling on official affairs, therefore protected by diplomatic immunity. This site can reveal for the first time that Saab's associate Alvaro Pulido Vargas (real name German Enrique Rubio Salas), also has a legitimate and valid Venezuelan passport, number 129251659 that expires 5 October 2020. In addition, Pulido Vargas has used two Colombian passports in the recent past (PE069914, CC79324956). In May 2000, Colombian media reported that Rubio had been arrested for involvement in drug trafficking.
Adriana Martínez Rodriguez, girlfriend of Pulido Vargas and proxy of Saab, has used four different Colombian passports recently, CC52145001, AN964154, PE108893, and PE140179.
Arreaza's jump to Saab's defence followed a previous move, equally shocking, whereby Arreaza announced that Venezuela would present the "bankruptcy" of Libre Abordo, one of Saab's shells, to the International Criminal Court.
U.S. Treasury announced last Friday that Libre Abordo, subsidiary Schlager Business Group, and Mexican proxies of Saab were added to its sanctioned list due to evasion of sanctions imposed on PDVSA. Saab had become PDVSA's largest trader since Rosneft's exit in mid February.