File photo- Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek Saab speaks to Reuters during an interview, in Caracas, Venezuela, February 11, 2026. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa/ File Photo
Venezuela Attorney General Tarek Saab has resigned after a nearly nine-year tenure, the country’s legislature said on Wednesday, but has been elected as the country’s acting ombudsman after that official also resigned.
Saab’s leadership has drawn repeated criticism from human rights groups, but assembly president Jorge Rodriguez hailed his “lifelong expertise in human rights” as he asked the ruling party-dominated assembly to back the interim naming of Saab as ombudsman, responsible for safeguarding citizens’ rights.
Saab, 63, was appointed attorney general in 2017 and presided over the government’s response to several corruption scandals, as well as the arrests of some well-known opposition figures and protesters who human rights groups say were unjustly detained.
Heavily tattooed and a published poet, Saab has always denied that the government holds political prisoners, telling Reuters this month he hopes an amnesty law since passed by the legislature will ensure a “100% pacified” country.
“I call them prisoners, I don’t give anything any additional label,” Saab told Reuters this month. “They are detainees for actions that at the time were documented.”
The assertions repeat statements he made to Reuters in 2024, before thousands were arrested for participating in protests amid a contested presidential election marked by allegations of fraud after Nicholas Maduro was named the winner. The U.S. captured Maduro in an early January raid after a months-long campaign to pressure him to cede power.
In his resignation letter, read aloud by Rodriguez to lawmakers, Saab said he “carried out this office with integrity and honor, amid historical circumstances of exceptional challenge for the present and future of our homeland, in which we played the constitutional role of preserving peace and protecting the human rights of our people during a period of unimaginable aggression against the Venezuelan nation.”
Saab did not reply to a request for further comment.
Saab played a “leading role” in “systematic persecution of critics and opponents”, Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
“Appointing him as ombudsman is a slap in the face of victims. Meaningful reform requires appointing a new attorney general who is independent, ceases to persecute dissent, and commits to ensuring that all political prisoners are released and amnestied.”
Larry Devoe, head of the National Council of Human Rights, will serve as acting attorney general, and the assembly will form committees to choose permanent replacements, Rodriguez, brother of acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, said.
About Saab’s new role
An ombudsman ( Defender of the People ) ( Defensor del Pueblo in Spanish) is an independent, impartial official who investigates complaints, facilitates resolutions, and ensures fairness within institutions, governments, or organizations
. They act as a neutral intermediary to resolve disputes through mediation or investigation, ultimately promoting accountability, transparency, and systemic improvements without providing legal advice
About Tarek William Saab Halabi
Tarek William Saab Halabi ( Arabic: طارق وليام صعب حلبي ), who was born in 1962) into a family of Lebanese merchants is a Venezuelan politician, lawyer, and poet. He was a leader of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) party founded by Hugo Chávez, a former President of Venezuela, who publicly called him “The poet of the revolution”
In December 2014, he was elected as the Ombudsman, by the National Assembly for 2014–2021 term. On 5 August 2017, the National Constituent Assembly appointed him as Attorney General and served in this position until his resignation in 2026.
Reuters
