A well known trope in Venezuela is that Hugo Chavez was the most charismatic politician, and that Nicolas Maduro was just the loyal fool handpicked to continue the "Bolivarian Revolution". When Chavez's death was announced, nobody gave Maduro much of a chance. The thinking was that he was no Chavez, that he didn't have what it took. Maduro has been massively underestimated. For years. Yet he can easily claim to be the shrewdest, more so than even Chavez, whose time in power was aided by the largest oil windfall ever received.

Recent news from Gotham City revealed that Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique (CBH) had intermediated for Alex Saab in some completely corrupt Venezuela-related business. Unsurprising, considering players. In June 2020, sources informed this site that Colombian - Swiss citizen Jorge Guillermo Wurms Forero was Alex Saab's proxy.

The following is part of a book I am writing on Venezuela's corruption. It explains Smartmatic's "success" in Venezuela. Donate £1 / $1 / €1 here, if you think I should continue.

The Miami Herald reported the following, on Friday May 28, 2004:

Thug Alejandro Betancourt was recently in the news. A data scrapping effort by France's Le Monde (#OpenLux) revealed Betancourt uses Luxembourg in his money laundering activities. Readers of this site had known that, of course, for many years. The Miami Herald had -at last- the decency to link to this site's story about Betancourt's little energy deal with the Russians: Gazprombank Latin America Ventures B.V. and Petrozamora. Again, nothing new there, that stuff was exposed here years ago.