The Minister of the Interior of Ecuador, John Reimberg, assured that the Andean country will collaborate with the United States in the investigations that may be opened based on the information provided by the Colombian businessman Alex Saab, identified as a front man for Nicolás Maduro and deported this week to US territory.

“The United States knows that we are going to collaborate in all necessary investigations in Ecuador regarding those who may have participated in those events during those dates,” Reimberg declared to the press.

The minister maintained that he hopes that “what (Saab) says in the extradition” will translate into information and intelligence packages for countries like Ecuador and allow progress in possible investigations linked to its operations in the region.

Reimberg also stated that he does not believe that Saab has been a front man “only for who they say”, but that “he may have been a front man for other politicians from other countries”; and stressed that the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro worked “hand in hand” with that of Rafael Correa (2007-2017).

After Saab's deportation to the United States, the minister added, “many must now be nervous” and wondering “where to hide,” because “none of this is going to go unpunished.”

Saab, who landed at a Miami airport on Saturday after being deported by Venezuela, is a personal friend of Maduro and has been accused in the United States for years of having illegally enriched himself through government contracts and of having acted as a front man for the Chavista leader.

The Alex Saab case had already had ramifications in Ecuador through Foglocons, a company founded in Guayaquil, the largest city in the country, according to a file from the Oversight Commission of the National Assembly (Parliament) that investigated the case in 2021, when it was chaired by former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, murdered during a campaign rally in 2023.

According to this investigation, Foglocons obtained a contract with the Venezuelan government in 2011 for the construction of homes and the material for this was exported from Ecuador through operations that turned out to be false.

These transactions were carried out through the Unitary Regional Payment Compensation System (Sucre), a commercial exchange mechanism promoted by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), which allowed millionaire money flows to be channeled between Ecuador and Venezuela.

The Ecuadorian Prosecutor's Office investigated the case in the first stage, but the process was annulled in 2016.