LatinPost... The net work (worth)of late socialist leader Hugo Chávez's second-oldest daughter is estimated at $4.2 billion, making María Gabriela Chávez the richest woman in Venezuela. The 35-year-old, whom embattled President Nicolás Maduro last year appointed an alternate ambassador to the United Nations, apparently holds most of her assets in accounts in the United States and Andorra, where they are not affected by Venezuela's volatile economy and highly deflationary currency, Diario Las Américas reported.
"(Her) fortune is a far cry from the slogan her father used to use: 'Being rich is back' and is even less compatible with the socialist doctrine that (Hugo) Chávez tried to force on the oil-rich country," Diario Las Américas editorialized.
The assets of businessmen such as Lorenzo Mendoza pale in comparison, the newspaper detailed. Mendoza, the owner of the powerful Polar group, had often been a favorite foe of the late president's, who used to belittle him as "the great oligarch."
During his lifetime, Chávez frequently denounced wealthy individuals, the Daily Mail recalled. "The rich don't work, they're lazy," he said in a speech in 2010. "Every day they go drinking whiskey -- almost every day -- and drugs, cocaine, (and) they travel."
But the socialist leader's daughters seem to have adopted a rather lavish lifestyle. Their refusal to move out of Miraflores Palace, Venezuela's official presidential residence, cost the Venezuelan state $3.6 million a day in 2014, El Comercio noted, based on estimates by opposition congressman Carlos Berrisbeitía. It also meant that Chávez's successor had to remain in the vice presidential residence.
When allegations first surfaced against her last year following a scandal concerning an Argentine rice company, Chavez took to Instagram to comment on the corruption scandal, offering a classic "non-denial denial."
Hablan de millones, hablan de herencias, hablan de riquezas...y creen que ofenden con insultos. Son seres tan básicos que no tienen idea que la riqueza mas grande que siempre me diste y que aquí me dejaste, fue tu mirada llena de amor, tu ejemplo de grandeza y tu entrega absoluta. Te siguen atacando. Te siguen temiendo. Y eso me sigue llenando cada día de mas amor, FUERZAS y orgullo de ti. GRACIAS POR TANTO, GIGANTE. #maisantaquesonbastantes
"They talk about millions, they talk about inheritance, they talk about riches, and they believe that they (can) offend (me) with insults," she captioned the photo in Spanish.
But "they are such basic beings that they do not have any idea about the greatest riches that you have always given me and that you have left me here: your look full of love, your example of greatness and your absolute sacrifice," she added, in apparent reference to her late father.
