Venezuela's Corruption Exposed

Message to INFODIO readers: investigative journalism, which is what this site does, takes lots of time. Visiting media looking for a quick run down on Venezuela's gargantuan corruption, have the decency to at least cite the source when plagiarising this site's content without attribution (exhibit Reuters here and here, exhibit Bloomberg here, exhibit OCCRP here). To all readers, do the right thing, the honest thing: support independent investigative journalism, help us expose rampant corruption. Note added 28/06/2021: impostors are using INFODIO's former editor's full name, and a fake email address (alek.boyd.arregui at gmail.com) to send copyright infringement claims / take down requests to web hosting companies (exhibit Hostgator). The attempt is yet another effort paid by corrupt thugs to erase information about their criminal activities. Infodio.com has no issues with other websites / journalists using / posting information published here, so long as the source is properly cited.

MUD & Boligarchs

10 years ago By Alek Boyd

The other day we found out -thanks Roberta- that representatives of the umbrella group opposing chavismo in Venezuela had been asking the U.S. State Department to NOT impose sanctions on individuals responsible for atrocious human rights violations. Roberta's faux pas was, in my opinion and contrary to conventional wisdom, a calculated move. It was a clear message from the State Department intended to expose turncoat Venezuelan politicos that love to pretend one thing in public, and then get in bed with utterly corrupt cronies of chavismo. The MUD has one representative in Washington: Leopoldo Martinez. Martinez's NGO, the grand sounding "Center for Democracy and Development in the Americas" (CDDA), serves as the perfect front.

Given that some people in Twitter have questioned my exposing Martinez -as one of the three MUD reps that could have asked Jacobson / DoS to not sanction chavistas (other two being Ramon Jose Medina and Ramon Guillermo Aveledo)- and the origin of information I posted about it, I am placing here CDDA's 990 form from 2012. It shows a substantial increase of contributions and grants (origin?) between 2011 and 2012 (from $55,196 to $2,537,777 respectively). Martinez is linked to David Osío, a Bolivarian "banker" of extremely dubious credentials. Martinez's CDDA's board colleague, Medina, is an employee of Víctor Vargas. Could that money be coming from those "bankers"? Curiously, CDDA is a non-profit corporation registered in Florida. In its 2012 annual report, filed April 26 2012, it had three directors: Leopoldo Martinez, LMN Consulting LLC (LMN probably stands for Leopoldo Martinez), and NACOMA International Trust (another vehicle controlled by Martinez).

Tags

Copyright © 2018, INFODIO. All rights reserved.