Corruption in Venezuela permeates all aspects of politics, business, law enforcement, and other sectors. The discovery of oil in Venezuela in the early 20th century worsened political corruption.From 1917, "greater awareness of the country's oil potential had the pernicious effect of increasing the corruption and intrigue amongst Gomez's family and entourage, the consequences of which would be felt up to 1935 – B. S. McBeth (2002), Juan Vicente Gómez and the Oil Companies in Venezuela, 1908–1935, Cambridge University Press, p17. While corruption is not a new phenomenon in Venezuela, it worsened with the Chávez and Maduro regimes. In recent years, Venezuela has been ranked as one of the most corrupt countries globally by Transparency International, and corruption has played a role in the economic collapse and broader crisis in Venezuela. A 2014 Gallup poll found that 75% of Venezuelans believed that corruption was widespread throughout the Venezuelan government. Discontent with corruption was cited by demonstrators as one of the reasons for the 2014 and 2017 Venezuelan protests.
According to Transparency International's 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, Venezuela scored 10 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"), continuing its lowest score ever from the previous year. When ranked by score, Venezuela ranked 180th among the 182 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with regional scores, the best score among the countries of the Americas was 75, the average score was 42 and the worst score was Venezuela's, 10. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 89 (ranked 1), the average score was 42, and the worst score was 9 (ranked 181, in a two-way tie).
In 2023, Transparencia Venezuela announced that the amount of money in judicial cases of 26 different countries investigating government corruption amounted to at least $70 billion dollars.
History The history of Venezuela has been mired with "persistent and intense presence of corruption", according to the Cato Institute. In 1991, author Ruth Capriles wrote The history of corruption in Venezuela is the history of our democracy depicting the many instances of corruption in the country.
Simón Bolívar (1813–1830) During the Venezuelan War of Independence in 1813, Simón Bolívar made a decree that any corruption was punishable by death, according to the Cato Institute.
Authors Beddow and Thibodeaux stated that Karl Marx called Bolívar a "[f]alsifier, deserter, conspirator, liar, coward, and looter". Marx dismissed Bolívar as a "false liberator who merely sought to preserve the power of the old Creole nobility which he belonged". According to Marx, after Bolívar arrived in Caracas in 1813, Bolívar's "dictatorship soon proved a military anarchy, leaving the most important affairs in the hands of favorites, who squandered the finances of the country, and then resorted to odious means in order to restore them". First published in the New American Cyclopedia, Vol. III, 1858.
During his presidency in the 1820s, Bolívar made two decrees stating corruption was "the violation of the public interest" and reinforced his edict by saying such actions were punishable by death, according to the Cato Institute. However, under Bolívar, orders were made to plunder cities, with ornaments from churches being stolen to finance his military forces. In 1826, the Congress of Gran Colombia, which was subservient to Bolívar and had been suffering from financial issues, awarded Bolívar over 1 million pesos while other officials resorted to appropriating and expropriating from the public.
Antonio Guzmán Blanco (1870–1887)
Antonio Guzmán Blanco led a fairly steady Venezuelan government that was allegedly rife with corruption. He sought to change Venezuela from a "backward and savage country", to a more prosperous one, admiring the United States and especially France. Guzmán reportedly stole money from the treasury, abused his power, and, after a disagreement with a bishop, expelled any clergy who disagreed with him and seized property belonging to the Catholic Church.
Cipriano Castro (1899–1908) Cipriano Castro served as governor of Táchira until he was overthrown and exiled to Colombia in 1892. He then amassed considerable wealth through illegal cattle trading and hired a private army with which he intended to march on Caracas. After a successful coup in 1899, his dictatorship was one of the most corrupt periods in Venezuela's history. Once in charge, Castro began plundering the treasury and modifying the constitution to convenience his administration. He and his cronies established monopolies to line their pocket, a move that was also designed to antagonize foreign capital. He had political opponents murdered or exiled, lived extravagantly and broke down diplomacy with foreign countries. He provoked numerous foreign actions, including blockades and bombardments by British, German, and Italian naval vessels seeking to enforce the claims of their citizens against Castro's government. When Castro was ousted, Venezuela was in complete fiscal disorder and constantly in conflict with its neighbors.
Juan Vicente Gómez (1908–1935) From 1908 to 1935, the dictator Juan Vincente Gomez held power, with his acts of corruption only committed with "immediate collaborators," according to the Cato Institute. By the time he died, he was by far the richest man in the country. He did little for public education and held basic democratic principles in disdain. His allegedly ruthless crushing of opponents through his secret police earned him the reputation of a tyrant. He was also accused by opponents of trying to turn the country into a personal fiefdom.
Marcos Pérez Jiménez (1952–1958)
Marcos Pérez Jiménez seized power through electoral fraud in 1952. The government's National Security (Seguridad Nacional, secret police) was extremely repressive against critics of the regime and ruthlessly hunted down and imprisoned those who opposed the dictatorship.
On 23 January 1958, a coup d'état was performed against Pérez Jiménez. Pérez Jiménez, fleeing from Miraflores Palace, went to La Carlota Airport to seek exile in the Dominican Republic. While rushing out of Venezuela, Pérez Jiménez left $2 million in a on the runway of La Carlota Airport.
Democracy (1958–1999) During the first administration of Carlos Andrés Pérez from 1974 to 1979, the 1973 oil crisis caused petroleum profits to be at record highs. His government substantially increased debt, nationalized the oil industry into PDVSA, as well as the iron industry, created new state-owned companies, nationalized the central bank and replaced its board with cabinet members, eliminating the bank's independence as a result. The result of these policies was a system of patrimonialism and increased government corruption. In 1980, the Venezuelan Congress found Carlos Andrés politically responsible for the overprice in the purchase of the ship Sierra Nevada, but acquitted him of administrative and moral responsibility.
During the presidency of Jaime Lusinchi, US$36 billion was misused by the foreign exchange program RECADI, according to the Cato Institute. Arrest warrants were issued against five businessmen for false imports into Venezuela as part of the exchange program, of which Chinese businessman Ho Fuk Wing was imprisoned for three years before being sentenced and detained for an additional four months.
On 20 March 1993, Attorney General Ramón Escovar Salom introduced an action against President Pérez for the embezzlement of bolivars belonging to a presidential discretionary fund, or partida secreta. The issue had originally been brought to public scrutiny in by journalist José Vicente Rangel. Pérez and his supporters claim the money was used to support the electoral process in Nicaragua. On 1993, the Supreme Court considered the accusation valid, and the following day the Senate voted to strip Pérez of his immunity. Pérez refused to resign, but after the maximum 90 days of temporary leave available to the President under Article 188 of the 1961 constitution, the National Congress Pérez from office permanently on .Kada, Naoko (2003), "Impeachment as a punishment for corruption? The cases of Brazil and Venezuela", in Jody C. Baumgartner, Naoko Kada (eds, 2003), Checking executive power: presidential impeachment in comparative perspective, Greenwood Publishing Group
In 1997, Pro Calidad de Vida, a Venezuelan NGO, claimed that around $100 billion from oil revenue had been misused in the preceding 25 years, according to the Cato Institute.
Bolivarian Revolution (1999–present)
According to Foreign Policy, Venezuela's corruption helped Hugo Chávez gain power and worsened under the Bolivarian government. Though the Bolivarian government states that they have implemented strict guidelines and laws to deter corruption, enforcement of such anti-corruption laws has been weak following the centralizing powers in the government, creating less accountability for corruption and making it prevalent throughout Venezuela.
Hugo Chávez (1999–2013) In December 1998, Hugo Chávez declared three goals for the new government; "convening a constituent assembly to write a new constitution, eliminating government corruption, and fighting against social exclusion and poverty". However, during Hugo Chávez's time in power, corruption became widespread throughout the government due to impunity towards members of the government, bribes and the lack of transparency, according to the Cato Institute. In 2004, Hugo Chávez and his allies took over the Supreme Court, filling it with supporters of Chávez and made new measures so the government could dismiss justices from the court. According to the Cato Institute, the National Electoral Council of Venezuela was under the control of Chávez where he tried to "push a constitutional reform that would have allowed him unlimited opportunities for reelection". Some criticisms of corruption came from Chávez's own supporters, with Chávez's initial political party, the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), being criticized as being riddled with the same cronyism, political patronage, and corruption that Chávez alleged were characteristic of the old "Fourth Republic" political parties.Fuentes, F. (2005), "Challenges for Venezuela's Workers' Movement". Green Left Weekly. Accessed 15 February 2006.Márquez, H. (2005), Inter Press Service. Accessed 2 February 2006.
The Corruption Perceptions Index, produced annually by the NGO Transparency International (TNI) ranked Venezuela among the most corrupt countries in the world in 2012, placing it 165th out of 176 countries.
Public funds In early 2000, Chávez's friend and co-conspirator in the 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts Jesús Urdaneta was appointed head of Venezuela's intelligence agency, DISIP. Urdaneta began receiving reports that Chávez's allies, Luis Miquilena, leader of the National Assembly and José Vicente Rangel, Chávez's foreign minister, were keeping public funds for themselves. Urdaneta brought this to Chávez's attention, but Chávez ignored his advice saying that he needed the political experience of both men in order to establish power.
$22.5 billion of public funds have been transferred from Venezuela to foreign accounts with half of that money being unaccounted for by anyone, according to the Cato Institute. José Guerra, a former Central Bank executive, claims that most of that money has been used to buy political allies in countries such as Cuba and Bolivia, according to the Cato Institute. Chávez reportedly made promises and carried out most payments of nearly US$70 billion to foreign leaders without consultation with the people of Venezuela and without normal legal procedures, according to the Cato Institute.
Maletinazo scandal