The 35 Club

Since 2013, 35 Venezuelan generals have started dozens of companies, dealing in everything from toys and tourism to food and transportation. Between them, the generals have won hundreds of state contracts, lining their pockets even as most Venezuelans have plunged into desperate poverty.

Their businesses were revealed after OCCRP acquired a cache of internal army documents and cross-referenced it with a registry of companies that received contracts from the government. Additional reporting revealed that, in many cases, these companies were registered at residential addresses or appeared to have no physical offices.

This investigation exposes the lucrative benefits that accrue to senior officials in a country that devolved into rampant cronyism years ago. Analysts say these financial rewards ensured their loyalty to the regime of embattled President Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela’s political and economic situation continued to deteriorate.

The 35 generals are profiled below. OCCRP wrote to all of them seeking comment; only two responded, one briefly. The other, Angelvis Antonio Pérez Rodríguez, explained that the cooperative he held shares in had never even been fully registered, and that he was simply a soldier who did not do business of any sort.

“I am not an entrepreneur,” he wrote. “I am a soldier of the Bolivarian Revolution, the only political project that guarantees the greatest amount of happiness to the heroic people of the RBV [Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela] and collective well-being.” He added, using capital letters for emphasis, “I AM NOT A CORRUPT GENTLEMAN. I AM A SOLDIER WITH ETHICAL AND MORAL VALUES AND PRINCIPLES.”