Summary
- Lawyers for the three daughters have questioned the arrangements, alleging they disadvantaged the daughters by giving the six adopted children greater collective influence over family interests.
- Venezuelan government sources go further, alleging the adoptions were part of a long-term arrangement to shift voting power within family structures and give Mireya’s branch majority influence after Cisneros’s death, potentially at the daughters’ expense.
- One official alleged irregularities and possible fabrication in the adoptions, claiming they formed part of a scheme to obtain majority voting control of the family trust and diminish the daughters’ interests.
AI Generated Summary
Venezuelan government sources say the country’s SENIAT tax authority valued the estate of the late billionaire Oswaldo Cisneros at more than $10 billion and calculated a potential inheritance-tax liability of over $3 billion. Those claims have added a new layer to a bitter inheritance battle between his widow, Mireya Blavia de Cisneros, and his three daughters from his first marriage.
One official claimed there was no record of the amount having been paid and said authorities were examining inheritance and succession-tax obligations arising from Cisneros’s death. The figures and payment status have not been independently verified.
The estate is linked to Digitel, one of Venezuela’s largest mobile telecommunications operators, as well as oil, real estate and other businesses. Government sources have separately alleged wider personal and corporate tax liabilities, underinvestment, bribery, political kickbacks and irregularities involving businesses associated with the family.
Mireya has faced scrutiny over her management of family interests across telecommunications, oil and real estate. Officials have alleged failures to meet investment commitments, outstanding personal and corporate tax liabilities and possible corruption in business dealings during the presidency of Nicolás Maduro. A legal source representing her disputed aspects of the allegations but acknowledged problems involving underinvestment and unfulfilled commitments, attributing some of them to US sanctions affecting Venezuela’s financial system.
The tax questions sit alongside a long-running fight over the estate itself. Cisneros died in Miami on November 8, 2020. He had three daughters from his first marriage, Claudia Susana, Maritza Blanca and María Ella Cisneros Fontanals, and no biological children with Mireya. The couple adopted six children in Romania and Colombia: Carmen Elena, Camila Roxana, Alfonso Olaf, Oswaldo Antonio, Laura Gissel and Carla Giovana.
His closed will, registered in Venezuela in December 2017, named Mireya and all nine children as his “sole and universal heirs”. Lawyers for the three daughters have questioned the arrangements, alleging they disadvantaged the daughters by giving the six adopted children greater collective influence over family interests. The litigation has been accompanied by allegations that Mireya sought majority control of family trusts and businesses through the adopted children’s voting strength.
Venezuelan government sources go further, alleging the adoptions were part of a long-term arrangement to shift voting power within family structures and give Mireya’s branch majority influence after Cisneros’s death, potentially at the daughters’ expense. One official alleged irregularities and possible fabrication in the adoptions, claiming they formed part of a scheme to obtain majority voting control of the family trust and diminish the daughters’ interests. Those allegations have not been established by the courts.
The principal legal challenge was brought by Claudia Susana Cisneros Fontanals, who described herself as a legitimate, compulsory and testamentary heir. On May 12, 2021, she challenged the standing of the six adopted children, arguing that the foreign adoption judgments had never undergone exequátur, the procedure by which certain foreign judgments are formally recognised in Venezuela, and therefore could not take legal effect there.
On August 3, 2021, the Social Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal agreed that exequátur was required, ruled that the six lacked standing in the relevant succession proceedings and ordered related proceedings archived. After Mireya sought constitutional review, the Constitutional Chamber annulled that judgment on January 31, 2022, finding that qualifying international adoptions under the Hague Convention did not need the additional exequátur. The ruling defeated the attempt to exclude the children on that ground but did not resolve every issue in the dispute.
In July 2021, a Caracas court also admitted a criminal complaint by Claudia against Mireya alleging private violence, extortion and association to commit crimes. Claudia alleged threats, coercion and other unlawful pressure intended to compel her to perform or tolerate acts she was not legally obliged to accept, and conduct aimed at securing a financial advantage or causing her loss. Admission of the complaint was not a finding of guilt, and the available material does not establish its outcome.
Government sources have also described Mireya as a close ally of former president Nicolás Maduro and raised suspicions she has continued lobbying on his behalf, claims that require independent corroboration. A legal representative for Mireya said she would continue to contest Claudia’s legal challenges.
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