VENEZUELA’S government said Saturday it would suspend negotiations with its opponents after the United States extradited a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro to face charges of money laundering.

Jorge Rodriguez, who heads the government’s negotiation team, said that his team would not attend the next round of talks in Mexico City.

He called the decision “an expression of our deepest protest over the brutal aggression against” businessman Alex Saab.

The 49-year-old was arrested in Cape Verde in June 2020 when his plane stopped in the West African island nation to refuel. In September, Maduro’s government named the Colombian-born businessman as a member of its negotiating team in the talks with the opposition.

His extradition to the U.S. was announced on Cape Verde’s national radio Saturday.

Juan Guaido, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition, hailed the prospect of soon seeing one of Maduro’s top allies behind bars, while also condemning the government’s decision to suspend negotiations.

Hours after Saab’s extradition, Venezuela also revoked the house arrest of six former executives of refiner Citgo, a U.S. subsidiary of state oil company PDVSA.

Saab is expected to make his initial appearance in court today in the state of Miami, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice.

The U.S. Department of Justice charged Saab in 2019 in connection with a bribery scheme to take advantage of Venezuela’s state-controlled exchange rate. The U.S. also sanctioned him for allegedly orchestrating a corruption network that allowed Saab and Maduro to profit from a state-run food subsidy program.

Saab’s lawyers have called the U.S. charges “politically motivated.”

Meanwhile, sources said that the Citgo 6, who were arrested in November 2017 after being summoned to a meeting at PDVSA headquarters in Caracas, were taken from their homes to one of the headquarters of the intelligence police.

The former executives had been released from jail and put under house arrest in April.

The group is made up of five naturalized U.S. citizens and one permanent resident. The U.S. Government has repeatedly demanded their release.

(SD-Agencies)