Venezuela
The "Fondo para la Protección Social del Pueblo de Venezuela", or the Social Protection Fund was an initiative discussed between Venezuela’s government and the opposition, set up as an effort to address the ongoing political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. It was set to transfer up to USD 3 billion to the Venezuelan people over the coming years. A key aspect of this agreement involved the repatriation of Venezuelan assets that are currently frozen under various international protection mechanisms. These assets would be returned to Venezuela through an independent trust fund, ensuring that they are used for the benefit of the population. In 2024 however, negotiations on the advancement of the Fund have substantially stopped, due to the political unrest following the presidential election. The capture in 2026 of Maduro has accelerated the identification of billions in frozen offshore assets, creating an unprecedented opening for international legal frameworks to repatriate these funds directly toward Venezuelan humanitarian reconstruction.
Overview
The oil sector has been a particularly vulnerable to corruption. Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves in the world, with the state-owned company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), controlling the entire oil sector of the nation. Between 1999 and 2017 PDVSA made more than USD 1 trillion from oil production and this centralisation of control over vast financial resources has been a major source of corruption. In 2016, two former economic ministers requested an investigation into around USD 300 billion of PDVSA’s earnings that they claimed were missing.
Corruption is not exhaustively related to the oil sector in Venezuela. Documented cases of corruption include corruption scandals related to manipulating exchange rates, engaging in the illegal gold trade, and involvement in drug trafficking, forgery, and bribery.
Accurately determining the amount of public money stolen in Venezuela is challenging, with estimates often ranging from tens of billions to hundreds of billions of dollars. In 2017, the opposition-led National Assembly reported documenting USD 87 billion in misappropriated funds. Much of this money is to yet be recovered.
These corruption scandals have long gone unchecked. However, according to Transparencia Venezuela, in recent years, prosecutors, courts, and parliaments in at least 20 countries have begun investigating the embezzlement of Venezuelan money, with assets surpassing USD 24 billion.
Our work in Venezuela
CiFAR has been engaged in Venezuela since 2021, supporting civil society engagement in asset recovery. A focus of our work with partners has been on advocacy around the potential asset return mechanisms. This has included:
Capacity building and collaboration with civil society in Venezuela to promote transparency and civil society involvement in future international asset return mechanisms: training programmes on communication strategies, support in developing international engagement strategies, support to engagement on cases in European countries, including Spain, Portugal and France
Capacity building to political actors involved in discussions on international asset recovery mechanisms
Research on international best practices on return mechanisms applicable to the Venezuelan context and on potential return structures for return mechanisms to Venezuela
Latest research
Management and oversight of independent return funds
This report explores international best practices for the oversight of independent return mechanisms, drawing on both principles and examples from other returns, for the Venezuelan Social Fund. In doing so, it explores the unique characteristics that the Social Fund would operate within.
Best Practices for Independent Return Funds: Lessons for Venezuela
This report explores more general best practice when it comes to establishing an independent return mechanism. Drawing on experiences from Kazakhstan, Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan and Nigeria, it discusses how transparency, accountability and participation can be built into return mechanisms and identifies recommendations for the Venezuela fund.