THE MILLIONAIRES "ROBOLUCIONARIOS" CHAVISTAS - VENEZUELA

To speak of corruption in Venezuela is to speak of a network that today seems endless, of which every time new headings are discovered and which, according to estimates of journalists and researchers has managed to appropriate more than 800,000 million dollars in the almost 20 years and the shadow of the "Bolivarian revolution".

A first exhaustive count, done by the former governor and former deputy Carlos Tablante and captured in the book 'The great sacking', exposes about 300 names involved in such embezzlement.

However, the proximity to Hugo Chávez as well as the exhibitionism of his new status turned some cases into true exponents of a phenomenon that has been confirmed with investigations like the Panama Papers, others carried out by the prosecutors of Andorra, Spain and Switzerland and the sanctions of governments like the United States against the patrimony of these millionaires without explanation.

Among the most striking fortunes, among the first ones of the revolutionary era, stands out that of Lieutenant Alejadro Andrade, a personal friend of the late President Chávez, a participant along with him in the coup d'état of February 4, 1992 and one of his first escorts.

Although his accounts at the HSBC bank revealed by WikiLeaks and Washington were investigated and sanctioned by a network of banking transactions, he was allowed to remain in US territory in exchange for his collaboration, explained journalist Casto Ocando in his book. Chavistas in the empire. '

But beyond the formalities of research, social networks have shown their son not only as a great exponent of equestrian sport, but so close to the American economic elites as to take a picture with the Kardashian sisters.

The only name of chavism more associated with waste than Andrade is that of Diego Salazar, cousin of Rafael Ramírez, who was Venezuela's "oil zar", energy minister and president of Petróleos de Venezuela for almost 12 years.

Salazar not only received the agreement for lucrative contracts with insurers of Pdvsa, he also became a kind of intermediary for many of the hirings of the state.

As this power and wealth increased, his inclination to spend became famous to the point that journalistic investigations review how Salazar was made, one by one, of all the apartments of a luxurious building in Caracas, he liked to give away watches Rolex to his guests and sent to buy boxes of champagne of thousands of euros.

The latest scandal associated with his name was his inclination to sponsor Miss Venezuela candidates.

Salazar was arrested last year in Caracas after the clan associated with Rafael Ramírez decided to move from revolutionary militancy to criticism against President Nicolás Maduro.

However, very little is known about his imprisonment. The brothers of Ramírez, Fidel and Daniel Ramírez, as well as their brother-in-law, Baldo Sansó, have also appeared in various investigations as owners of companies in tax havens.

Of scandalous hiring related to PDVSA the list of names exceeds the tens, but they have transcended names like Roberto Rincón and Abraham Shiera, currently prosecuted by the US justice for collecting juicy bribes, or Eudomario Carruyo, who was director of the oil company when his son had a famous traffic accident in 2005, aboard a Lamborghini in Miami that no one understands well how he bought it.

Part of the embezzlement against PDVSA was also revealed when the existence of almost 4,000,000,000 dollars was discovered in the Private Banking of Andorra, in the hands of a small group of Venezuelan officials, among them Salazar and others who then held public positions such as former ministers of the oil and electric sector Javier Alvarado Ochoa and Nervis Villalobos Cárdenas; the former director of the state Francisco Jiménez Villarroel; Carlos Aguilera Borjas, former director of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service; Alcides Rondón Rivero, former deputy minister of Citizen Security and Foreign Affairs for Asia, the Middle East and Oceania; and the businessman Omar Farías Luces.

The control of exchange, in force in Venezuela for 15 years, in which the price of the official dollar has been well below the price of the parallel dollar and the Venezuelan government contracting for the acquisition of all types of products, covers another large amount of names and new fortunes.

Among these names stands out Samark López, appointed and sanctioned by the United States as a figurehead of former Vice President Tareck El Aissami.

Although in its networks it appears as an entrepreneur with inclinations to philanthropy, it has registered companies in tax havens and was indicated by the Department of the Treasury as related to drug trafficking and money laundering.

Investigations of portals such as Armando.info in Caracas and Univisión in Miami show that he owns expensive properties in Florida and his business with the Venezuelan government went from the sale of building materials, to food and even Christmas decorations.

Beyond these names and the cases of corruption proven against them, for Venezuelans it has become a sad sport to discover the luxuries enjoyed by high government and their families through social networks or in daily life.

From the president of the Supreme Court of Justice living in a luxurious mansion in the expensive Caracas area of ​​Alto Hatillo to photo comparisons, they show how the Minister of Communication, Jorge Rodríguez, is wearing $ 700 jogging shoes; the daughter of Diosdado Cabello -Daniela- used 800-dollar heels, or President Maduro occasionally betrays a Patek Phillipe watch worth thousands of dollars.

http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/gda/los-millonarios-revolucionarios-chavistas_253942