The Chavez Frias family has “amassed a fortune” comparable to that of Cuba’s Castro brothers, according to Criminal Justice International Associates, a risk assessment and global analysis firm in Miami, Fla.
“The personal fortune of the Castro brothers has been estimated at a combined value of around $2 billion,” Jerry Brewer, president of CJIA told
News From Venezuela.
“The Chavez Frias family in Venezuela has amassed a fortune of a similar scale since the arrival of Chavez to the presidency in 1999,” Brewer said in an analysis.
Hugo Chavez died Tuesday, after a two-year battle with cancer. His death ends 14 years of rule, but leaves the socialist party firmly in control of the nation.
Cuba is receiving close to $5 billion a year from the Venezuelan treasury and in oil shipments and other resources, Brewer estimates.
He says that organized Bolivarian criminal groups within the Chavez administration have been responsible for taking nearly $100 billion out of the nearly $1 trillion generated in oil income made by Petroleum of Venezuela (PDVSA) since 1999.
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