Switzerland freezes the accounts of 37 Chavista leaders, including Maduro, Cilia Flores, and their family

The international blockade against chavismo continues to tighten. The government of Switzerland revealed on Tuesday a list of 37 high-ranking officials, family members, and businessmen linked to the regime of Nicolás Maduro whose accounts and assets have been frozen in Swiss territory, according to an investigation by Transparencia Venezuela. 

The Swiss Federal Council issued the order on January 5, just two days after the capture and extradition to New York of Maduro himself, who is accused of narco-terrorism and corruption.

The measure aims to prevent illicitly obtained assets from being transferred out of the European country. Although Swiss authorities have not disclosed the exact amounts, Swiss banks reported the funds under the Foreign Illicit Assets Act.

In 2021, local media estimated that the capital associated with Maduro's environment exceeded 10 billion dollars, according to El Mundo. 

Among the main sanctioned individuals are Cilia Flores, the three children of the so-called “first revolutionary combatant” —Walter, Yosser, and Yoswal Gavidia Flores— and her nephew Erick Malpica Flores, former national treasurer and vice president of Finance at PDVSA.

All of them had already been included in the U.S. Clinton List for corruption, bribery, and money laundering through overpriced contracts and illegal commissions.

The Swiss order also extends to Marleny Contreras, wife of Diosdado Cabello, and Jorge Arreaza, former son-in-law of Hugo Chávez, as well as former oil executives such as Rafael Ramírez and his cousin Diego Salazar, along with former deputy ministers Nervis Villalobos, Javier Alvarado, and the former treasurer Alejandro Andrade, who is now a cooperating witness in the U.S.

Among the so-called boliburgueses, entrepreneurs favored by the revolution, prominent figures include Raúl Gorrín, Gustavo Perdomo, Alejandro Betancourt, and Francisco Convit, all involved in financial schemes and money laundering.

The measure confirms that the “family love” of Chavismo — as Transparencia Venezuela ironically pointed out — has also been a hereditary business. While Caracas attempts to rebuild its political system after Maduro's downfall, the money from the revolution remains frozen thousands of kilometers away, in the vaults of the Swiss financial system.

With this new resolution, Switzerland raises the number of sanctioned Venezuelans to 70 since the last decade, solidifying its role as one of the main European allies in the fight against global corruption and the looting of Venezuelan public funds.