![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-01.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>The elephant is literally White. No one answers the door of Quimera Metals. PHOTOS: RICARDO BALDERAS<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-02.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>The elephant is literally White. No one answers the door of Quimera Metals. PHOTOS: RICARDO BALDERAS<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nAccording \r\nto documents, Quimera Metals, a variable capital corporation, is based in this \r\nabandoned structure. On June 9, 2005, the Directorate General of Legal Affairs \r\nof the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the United Mexican States, through the \r\nAssistant Office of Corporations, authorized its incorporation. The procedure is \r\nrecorded on folio 28231J35, under file number \r\n200509014428.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In \r\nOctober 2015, the General Coordination of Ports of the Mexican State authorized \r\na 3-company consortium to give its capacity as shipping operator in the port of \r\nVeracruz - the main one in the country - on commission to Mexus Shipping \r\nSociedad An\u00f3nima. The companies authorized were Glencore de M\u00e9xico, Quimera \r\nMetals and Mexmarines Services. The purpose of the transaction was for Mexus \r\nShipping to pay commissions to these three companies to act as their shipping \r\nagent and represent them in their businesses by sea.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
The \r\nface of Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza is as opaque and mysterious as the facade of the \r\nheadquarters of Quimera Metals. His close circle has been more renown than him. \r\nHis mother, Marzia Rita Piazza Suprani, was crowned interim Miss Venezuela in \r\n1969, after the resignation of the beauty contest winner that year. <\/p>\n\n\n
After \r\n50 years of this unexpected crown, Piazza Suprani appears as a minority \r\nshareholder and secretary of at least two other of her son\u2019s companies, as \r\nrecorded in the Public Registry of Commerce, in Mexico \r\nCity.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-03.jpg\")
A few months after Rangel G\u00f3mez\u2019s arrival, Quimera Metals was incorporated<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n One \r\nof these companies is Inmobiliaria Capital 9, a variable capital company, i.e. a \r\ncompany for profit with capital divided into shares, engaged in the \u201cdisposal, \r\nacquisition, lease, marketing, administration and exchange of real estate,\u201d \r\nincorporated on May 15, 2018 before the notary public 235 of Mexico City, \r\nFernando D\u00e1vila Rebollar. In the incorporation papers, Piazza Suprani, the \r\nmother, appears as secretary, and Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza, the son, as \r\npresident.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Another \r\ncompany is Arabian Soul Partners LTD, also a variable capital company. It was \r\nincorporated on June 3 of this year by the notary public 244 of Cuauht\u00e9moc, \r\nCelso de Jes\u00fas Pola Castillo. The only objective of this company is to raise \r\nhorses.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Gonz\u00e1lez \r\nPiazza's network of partners transcends the maternal side. Another name that \r\nstands out in the documents of the Public Registry of Commerce is Marciano \r\nVerdi, a young man born in Brazil, who praises the benefits of entrepreneurship \r\nin several YouTube videos (where he appears with a beard, light blue shirts and \r\na golden Buddha next to a family photo in the background). \u201cI believe that being \r\nan entrepreneur is not something you learn at school. You whether have the \r\nprofile or not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-04.jpg\")
Marciano Verdi talks about entrepreneurship and knows who to partner with. He is a partner in one of Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza's companies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n And \r\nVerdi has it. He is a majority investor of Marcap Holding, a variable capital \r\ncompany, incorporated for an indefinite term on July 5, 2017, before the notary \r\npublic 13 of Mexico City, Ignacio Soto Sobreyra. Its business purpose is to \r\nacquire shares, interests, holdings or stakes of other company \r\ngroups.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Gonz\u00e1lez \r\nPiazza, the son-in-law of the retired general, and former governor Rangel G\u00f3mez, \r\nalso seems to have what it takes.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Having \r\nVerdi as a majority investor, and with the same concept of variable capital \r\ncompany, on the same date, with the same notary public, in the same city and \r\nwith the same corporate business purpose, Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza incorporated another \r\ncompany, Raw Holdings.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
But \r\nunlike Verdi, his partner and entrepreneur guru; his mother, a former beauty \r\nqueen; and his father-in-law, the well-known former governor Rangel G\u00f3mez, \r\nGonz\u00e1lez Piazza does not have a good relationship with the media or the social \r\nmedia sites. Only the Facebook profile of Quimera Metals with 41 \u201cfriends\u201d \r\nremains of that cluster of personalities. There is just a comment on the wall \r\nfrom April 27, 2018: \u201cWhat a terrible insignificant company, as well as the \r\npeople who work there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
The \r\nlast connection from the account was on July 19, 2019, when someone saw a \r\nmessage requesting an interview for this job. There was no \r\nanswer.<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-05.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Still in 2019, Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza continues registering companies in Mexico. PHOTOS: RICARDO BALDERAS<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-06.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Still in 2019, Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza continues registering companies in Mexico. PHOTOS: RICARDO BALDERAS<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-07.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Still in 2019, Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza continues registering companies in Mexico. PHOTOS: RICARDO BALDERAS<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-08.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Still in 2019, Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza continues registering companies in Mexico. PHOTOS: RICARDO BALDERAS<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-09.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Still in 2019, Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza continues registering companies in Mexico. PHOTOS: RICARDO BALDERAS<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nAfter the Storm, Silence is Telling<\/h2>\n\n\n
The \r\nscheme of business interests developed by his son-in-law in Mexico explains why \r\nGeneral Rangel G\u00f3mez chose to land in the security network of that country after \r\nleaving the Government of the State of Bol\u00edvar, which he ran for 13 long \r\nyears.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
He \r\nleft office in October 2017 in a silent, very low-profile, almost unnatural way \r\nfor a governor who had been characterized by extensive media exposure during his \r\ntenure.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
It \r\noccurred in 2017, after an electoral fraud in which he undoubtedly \r\nparticipated.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In \r\nthose days, in the streets of the state capital, Ciudad Bol\u00edvar - the old \r\nAngostura, on the banks of the Orinoco River -, the opponent, former deputy and \r\nformer governor Andr\u00e9s Vel\u00e1squez, denounced that the ruling party wanted to \r\nignore his electoral victory for the position of Governor of the State. His \r\nshouts mixed with the slogans and the sweat of his followers, the sleep-inducing \r\nheat and the tear gas that the National Guard fired from time to time to subdue \r\nthe protest. Everything happened a few meters from the regional office of the \r\nNational Electoral Council (CNE).<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
The \r\nelection was on Sunday, October 15, 2017. At the end of the day, the president \r\nof the CNE, Tibisay Lucena, announced from Caracas that there was still no \r\nresult for the Government of Bol\u00edvar. Later, in the early hours of Monday 16, \r\nthe electoral authority awarded the winning title to Vel\u00e1squez, but only for a \r\nfew minutes. Then, the information disappeared from the web page and the \r\nuncertainty of the next two days began in the streets with the protests, the \r\nslogans of fraud, the tear gas.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-10.jpg\")
In the early hours of October 18, 2017, Rangel G\u00f3mez passed from the media climax to the shadows.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n On \r\nOctober 17, at 12:12, the until then governor announced in his Twitter account \r\n(@rangelgomez), that another general and militant of the official United \r\nSocialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Justo Noguera, would be his replacement. \r\n\u201cCongratulations People of Bol\u00edvar. Once again you taught us a lesson on \r\nvictorious democracy in peace @JustoNogueraP GOVERNOR! (sic)\". Seven minutes \r\nlater, he wrote his last tweet: \u201cThe aim is to continue thriving for Bol\u00edvar, \r\nVenezuela's non-oil alternative because of its resources and committed \r\nWorkforce! @JustoNogueraP (sic).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
On \r\nOctober 18, Rangel G\u00f3mez arrived at midnight with Noguera and other PSUV \r\nmilitants at the regional office for the proclamation of the official candidate. \r\nThey were protected by barricades, darkness, military men and the nine tons of \r\neach of the VN-4 tanks of the National Guard.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
It \r\nwas his last public appearance. Since then, Rangel G\u00f3mez remained silent and \r\ntook another path, not in the State of Bol\u00edvar, but in Mexico. It was the bland \r\nend of a political career that, in the shadow of his arms colleague, Hugo Ch\u00e1vez \r\nFr\u00edas, made him the virtual tsar of the Venezuelan Guayana region, the place of \r\nthe emergency petty cash pompously called by Chavismo<\/I> as the Orinoco Mining Arc, \r\nwhich gave him a presidential candidate profile.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Before \r\nhis son-in-law incorporated the business set-up, as he confessed in many \r\ninterviews during his tenure, Francisco Rangel G\u00f3mez (born in Caracas on April \r\n4, 1953), was not interested in popular-election positions in the public \r\noffice.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
With \r\nthe administration of Hugo Ch\u00e1vez ?his fellow graduate in the Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar \r\npromotion of 1975, of the Military Academy of Venezuela? began his transit \r\nthrough the public administration. In 1999, after a year as director of the \r\nMilitary Academy, he separated from the Army to take office in the Ministry of \r\nthe Presidency. In 2001, by Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s appointment, he arrived in Puerto Ordaz as \r\nhead of Corporaci\u00f3n Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), an agency that - with the \r\nstatus of ministry - former president Romulo Betancourt founded in 1960 to \r\ngovern the rise of basic companies and the \r\nregion.<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-11.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Rangel G\u00f3mez guaranteed himself a media platform. INSTAGRAM PHOTOS: NIDIA DE RANGEL \/ BOL\u00cdVAR GOVERNMENT PRESS<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-12.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Rangel G\u00f3mez guaranteed himself a media platform. INSTAGRAM PHOTOS: NIDIA DE RANGEL \/ BOL\u00cdVAR GOVERNMENT PRESS<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-13.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Rangel G\u00f3mez guaranteed himself a media platform. INSTAGRAM PHOTOS: NIDIA DE RANGEL \/ BOL\u00cdVAR GOVERNMENT PRESS<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-14.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>Rangel G\u00f3mez guaranteed himself a media platform. INSTAGRAM PHOTOS: NIDIA DE RANGEL \/ BOL\u00cdVAR GOVERNMENT PRESS<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nUpon \r\narriving in the state of Bol\u00edvar and beginning his public administration, the Chavismo<\/i> accused him of representing the \r\n\"endogenous right,\" a euphemism that the revolutionary left foisted onto a \r\nmilitary-developmentalist lodge that accompanied Ch\u00e1vez from the \r\nbarracks.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Whether \r\nthe term was accurate or not, Rangel G\u00f3mez did little to refute it from the \r\nGovernment. His life style justified his reputation as bon vivant<\/i>, which he cultivated, for \r\nexample, with his usual presence in Posada de Chiquito -one of the most famous \r\nseafood restaurants in Puerto Ordaz, and his penthouse in the residential \r\ncomplex Parque Loefling, one of the most expensive buildings in that city. It is \r\na bastion of the professional and trading middle class on the left bank of the \r\nCaron\u00ed River, just at its confluence with the Orinoco River. The governor \r\nshamelessly professed his predilection for Rolex, Bell & Ross, IWC and \r\nPanerai watches, as well as for Tommy Hilfiger and Columbia \r\nshirts.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Less \r\nsuperficial and of greater political depth was the serious misunderstanding that \r\nhe starred on April 11 to 13, 2002, when Ch\u00e1vez was removed from power for 47 \r\nhours.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
On \r\nApril 11, on the day of the coup against Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, Rangel G\u00f3mez asked to have the cameras of the regional channel TV Guayana<\/a> to \r\nrule against the murders that took place in Caracas during a march of opponents \r\ngoing to the Miraflores Palace. These murders were used as an excuse for the \r\nrebels to declare disobedience to the Government and demand the resignation of \r\nPresident Ch\u00e1vez.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
With \r\na look that fluctuated between the floor and the camera, shrugged shoulders, \r\ninterlocking fingers and more babbling than concrete phrases, he announced his \r\nresignation as head of CVG with a tricky statement. \u201cActually, I do not feel \r\nidentified with the actions, particularly with today\u2019s events. I prefer to leave \r\nthe government sector. I take full responsibility. I had hopes that this deep \r\ncrisis would be resolved, but it rather intensified with the unfortunate events \r\nwe are witnessing in our capital city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
The \r\nChavista<\/i> militancy never forgave that \r\nbetrayal. However, against all odds, Ch\u00e1vez did forgive \r\nit.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Then, \r\na whole series of corruption allegations against him, some from the left wing of \r\nhis own ranks, would decimate the leadership of Rangel G\u00f3mez, who would always \r\nseek to bolster it up with a pretended technical profile.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
The \r\nfirst accusation of corruption came from the Chavismo<\/i>. In an internal report, Roy \r\nRodr\u00edguez, president in 2001 of the state-owned company Ferrominera del Orinoco \r\n(FMO), warned the central government in Caracas that Rangel G\u00f3mez was committing \r\n\u201cone of the most striking frauds in Guayana\u201d by signing the contract with the \r\nCanadian company Cristallex for the exploitation of the Las Cristinas gold mine, \r\nlocated in the Sifontes municipality, in the south of the \r\nstate.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-15.jpg\")
The first shadow of suspicion about Rangel G\u00f3mez appeared due to the contract between CVG and Cristallex. SCREENSHOT: GUAYANA: THE REVERSE MIRACLE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n Ch\u00e1vez \r\npaid no attention to the warnings, but time confirmed that the alerts were \r\njustified. In 2010, eight years after the signing and, as journalist Dami\u00e1n Prat \r\nquoted in his book Guayana: el milagro al rev\u00e9s<\/I> (Guayana: the reverse \r\nmiracle), \"not a gram of gold\" had been produced in Las Cristinas. The \r\ntransnational never made the guaranteed investments, with the excuse that the \r\nMinistry of Environment, i.e. its partner, denied the environmental permits, \r\nwhich actually happened. Instead, Cristallex traded its shares on the world's \r\nstock exchanges and made huge profits and multiplied its assets because it had \r\nthe Las Cristinas concession in its asset portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In \r\n2010, Ch\u00e1vez, referred from Belarus to the project, recalling that \u201cthat mine is \r\nVenezuelan and had been handed over to transnationals. Today, I announce to the \r\nworld that it was recovered by the revolutionary government,\u201d Though that \r\nhand-over occurred during his \u201crevolutionary government\u201d and with the signature \r\nof his old friend Rangel G\u00f3mez, whom Ch\u00e1vez nominated, despite everything, as a \r\ncandidate for governor of Bol\u00edvar. With a few words, he convinced him to run for \r\ngovernor: \u201cGet involved into politics, you, fat one. You will like \r\nit.\"<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
He \r\nliked it indeed. He won the 2004 regional elections while on board of Hugo \r\nCh\u00e1vez\u2019s aircraft carrier, and took office until 2017. No other governor in the \r\nRepublican history has held the position for so \r\nlong.<\/p>\n\n\n
Since \r\nhis father-in-law was proclaimed governor in 2004, Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza developed \r\nmuch of his business with Venezuelan state-owned companies through Quimera \r\nMetals. His signature stands out in several documents signed with the \r\nState.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In \r\nMexico, however, he did not deal with having all paperwork in order. For \r\ninstance, Quimera never applied for permission with any of the 32 units of the \r\nMexican National Water Commission (Conagua), a sine qua non<\/I> condition for \r\nmetal-handling companies.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-16.jpg\")
None of the 32 units of Conagua in Mexico have Quimera Metals applications. SCREENSHOTS: RICARDO BALDERAS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n It \r\nis, of course, a minor offense. Hence, it contributed less to raising the public \r\nprofile of Quimera Metals and Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza than his participation in the 2014 \r\nevent Mexico - Business Summit, chaired by the PRI politician Miguel Alem\u00e1n Velasco.<\/a> \r\nGonz\u00e1lez Piazza had managed to rub shoulders with the greatest political and \r\nfinancial spheres of Mexico. He participated in the event as a speaker in the \r\nfield of metal production.
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Just \r\na year earlier, the complaint filed before the Prosecutor's Office by opposition \r\ndeputy Andr\u00e9s Vel\u00e1squez (also a contender for Rangel G\u00f3mez in three governor \r\nelections, in 2008, 2012 and in the election fraud perpetrated in 2017), had \r\nmade the name of Carlos Rodrigo Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza hit the headlines in Venezuela. \r\nHe denounced the father-in-law for influence peddling and agreement with \r\ncontractors in favor of the son-in-law. The catalog of companies and \r\nconspirators presented by Vel\u00e1squez was broad, but one name was constantly \r\nrepeated, Quimera Metals.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
That \r\ncompany, incorporated in 2005, obtained in 2006 the qualification to work with \r\nCVG Venalum, the Venezuelan state company engaged in the production of primary \r\naluminum for export. According \r\nto Vel\u00e1squez\u2019s complaint in 2013, Venalum had been selling aluminum to V. \r\nAluminum Group INC, which in turn resold the raw material to the Mexican Quimera \r\nMetals of the son-in-law of Rangel G\u00f3mez, who imported it through the port of \r\nVeracruz.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
V. \r\nAluminum Group is owned by Jes\u00fas Vergara Betancourt, creator of Fundaci\u00f3n Lala, \r\none of the most beloved philanthropic initiatives in Ciudad Guayana.Based \r\non the records, the headquarters of V. Aluminum Group INC is on the second floor \r\nof edificio Torre Advanced, calle Ricardo Arias, Ciudad de Panam\u00e1. But in 2019, \r\nthere are other offices there: Camarena, Morales and Vega-Abogados; Noia \r\nIndustrial S.A.; GCP Applied Technologies; Jorge Constarangos G.-Abogados; \r\nAttorneys at Law-D\u00e9bora de Costarangos; Dysautonomia in Panama; Realty-real \r\nestate, and Costarangos Realty. No one at the building's reception remembers \r\nthat there was ever an office of V Aluminum Group.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-17.jpg\")
Vergara and Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza strengthened commercial ties since 2008. PHOTO: MARCOS VALVERDE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n The \r\ntruth is that the negotiations of Vergara and Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza crossed the \r\nborders of the continent. On February 15, 2008, from Ciudad Guayana, Vergara \r\nsent a fax to JB Commodities AG, with principal office and place of business at \r\nNeuhofstrasse 4, 6341 Baar, Switzerland, with emphasis on \u201cAttention: Rodrigo \r\nGonz\u00e1lez,\u201d which, after \u201cgreetings on behalf of V Aluminum Group INC\u201d, submitted \r\nthe quotation for 2,000 metric tons of P1020 aluminum. The price: $ 2,550 per \r\nmetric ton. It was the same aluminum that Quimera Metals bought in Venezuela \r\nwith preferential dollars and then resold it.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
A \r\nsearch in the commercial registries of Caracas and the State of Bol\u00edvar allowed \r\nus to verify that Quimera Metals was never incorporated in Venezuela nor was it \r\nregistered in the National Register of Contractors. Based on the foregoing, it \r\nis inferred that it could not contract with the Venezuelan State\u2026 an \r\nirregularity. And, above all, it was not in a position to participate in \r\ntenders.<\/p>\n\n\n
Caron\u00ed Rapids by Bicycle<\/h2>\n\n\n
In \r\nSeptember 2007, the office of CVG Internacional in Madrid, Spain, paid almost $ \r\n1.7 million for the purchase of 30,000 bicycles requested by the Government of \r\nBol\u00edvar with Rangel G\u00f3mez in office. The amount was billed by a company based in \r\nBarbados, Logistic Trading Services LTD. It was owned by Yamal Mustaf\u00e1, owner of \r\nthe Primicia de Puerto Ordaz newspaper, investigated and arrested in 2013 for \r\nparticipating in a traffic network of iron ore from Ferrominera del \r\nOrinoco.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Logistic \r\nTrading Services would appear in 2013 as the recipient of \u201cat least 6 million US \r\ndollars\u201d which, as Mustafa said to his interrogators of the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), \r\nwere to pay bribes to Colonel Juan Carlos \u00c1lvarez Dionisi, (a) The Shark, also \r\narrested for the case of the iron ore traffic network.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
But \r\nin 2007, no one knew that Logistic had sold bicycles, soccer balls and \r\nmotorcycles to CVG and the Government of Bol\u00edvar - in both cases with Rangel \r\nG\u00f3mez in office \u2013 without a tender. The business did not limit to bicycles \r\ndistributed by Rangel G\u00f3mez in public events, which were on the next day, the \r\nmain photo in the newspapers picked for Government advertising \r\nschedules.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-18.jpg\")
One of Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza's companies was favored through CVG Internacional. PHOTO: MARCOS VALVERDE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n \u201cDaniel, \r\nthey asked us for 20,000 professional-sized balls (all white) with the new State \r\nGovernment logo that I'm sending you today by DHL. As usual, it must be a CIF \r\nquote to Pto (sic) Cabello or La Guaira and we need samples as soon as possible, \r\nas they must be here by the first half of April.\u201d<\/I><\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
With \r\nthat message, on January 4, 2007, Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza asked one of his workers to \r\nhave a quick quote for the government of Rangel G\u00f3mez. The balls were not the \r\nonly request. \"I hope to ride the bicycles in February.\" The \r\ninterlocutor in this email is Daniel Infante, from Tasodi Comercializadora, \r\nanother variable capital company in Mexico. Its president was Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza. \r\n<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
The \r\nscandal over Vel\u00e1squez's accusations in 2013 faded away between the deepening of \r\nthe humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and the political dynamics imposed by the \r\nnewly established regime of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. But in 2016, the scandal of the \r\nso-called Panama Papers would end up showing that a good part of the assets of \r\nRangel G\u00f3mez and his family were protected in tax \r\nhavens.<\/p>\n\n\n
Showcases in Tax Havens<\/h2>\n\n\n
On \r\na rainy noon in late July 2019, a watchman opens the sliding window of the guard \r\nbooth in Residencias Vista Real in Puerto Ordaz, Bol\u00edvar. It is a brick building \r\nwith electric fencing. Real estate agents report that the cost of an apartment \r\nin this building ranges from 60,000 to 150,000 dollars.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
-Good \r\nafternoon. Is the headquarters of Argeneus LTD here?<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
-No.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
-Are \r\nthere any offices here?<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
-No. \r\nOnly family apartments.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
-But \r\nI have records that here is the headquarters of that \r\ncompany.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
-A \r\nfalse office. That is the only way. What is the name of the person in charge of \r\nthat?<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
-Carmelo \r\nChircop, Karina Isabel Mel\u00e9ndez Quintero, Gabriel Dingli and Francisco Rangel \r\nEscobar.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
-None \r\nof them are here, man. That is an empty apartment. That Rangel is the son of \r\nRangel G\u00f3mez.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
-Which \r\nRangel? The governor?<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
-Yes.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
The \r\nwatchman knows that something is weird in the building. Or that it was weird at \r\nsome point, when a SUV with the logo of the Government of Bolivar was regularly \r\nparked in front of the main entrance.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Apartment \r\n7-1 of this building, built at the intersection of Caruachi Street and Las \r\nAmericas Avenue, appears as the headquarters of Argeneus LTD, a company \r\nregistered on April 29, 2014 in Malta, an island nation of the Eastern \r\nMediterranean. As the watchman confirmed, the son of Rangel G\u00f3mez is or was one \r\nof the partners.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-19.jpg\")
imagen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n The \r\ninformation about Argeneus \r\nLTD was in the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca & Co, source of the \r\nmassive leak that in 2016<\/A> gave \r\nrise to the Panama Papers. Argeneus is incorporated in Malta. Its president is \r\nFrancisco Jos\u00e9 Rangel Escobar, son of former Governor Rangel G\u00f3mez. But traces \r\nof the companies of Rangel and his close circle also lead to Panama, Mexico and \r\nBarbados, as verified in different databases.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
There are \r\nthree companies in Panama with Carlos Rodrigo Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza as president, \r\nBlackshaw International Corp., Brieta Group Corp. and Toreto Holdings INC. The \r\nMexican Ana Paula Santander always appears in their board of directors. She \r\nworked at Quimera Metals with her brother, Jorge Santander, and apparently, she \r\nknew at length the amounts of the transactions that the Government of Rangel \r\nG\u00f3mez invested in his son-in-law\u2019s companies.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
For \r\ninstance, an email of October 23, 2007, with the subject \"Volare (8) Invoice\u201d \r\ngives a hint of that. Ana Paula Santander writes to Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza from \r\napssantander@mexmetal.com.mx<\/A>: \"RO \r\n(sic), here is the invoice for 8 trucks. Regards\". The October 18, 2007 invoice \r\nwas issued by Logistic Trading Services LTD (the same company in Barbados where \r\nYamal Mustafa had shares) to the Economic Development Fund of the State of \r\nBol\u00edvar, attached to the State Government. Indeed, the description details \r\nVolare W9 Marcopolo buses. The difference is in the number of units. They were \r\nnot only eight, as Santander said in the email, but 30. The amount: almost 2 \r\nmillion dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-20.jpg\")
Ana Paula Santander, an employee of Gonz\u00e1lez Piazza, learned about the juicy transactions with the government of Rangel G\u00f3mez. SCREENSHOT: RICARDO BALDERAS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n In the End, a Migrant<\/h2>\n\n\n
While the \r\ncorruption scheme was hatched, there were dissenting voices within Chavismo<\/I> that smelled something fishy \r\nabout Rangel Gomez. In 2007, the official group known as Revolution in the \r\nRevolution (Renlar) tried to set up a referendum to revoke the governor's \r\nposition. It did not collect enough signatures.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
On the \r\nother hand, in 2008, the newly created United Socialist Party of Venezuela \r\nnominated Rangel G\u00f3mez as a candidate for reelection. On November 23 of that \r\nyear, he won with 210,000 votes (47.38%). For that campaign and the next one, he \r\nhad an ally, whose procedures unleashed a continental shock and took several \r\nformer Latin American presidents to jail and even lead one of them to suicide, \r\nOdebrecht, the Brazilian construction company.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Odebrecht's \r\nsuperintendent director in Venezuela, Euzenando Azevedo, said in 2016, during \r\ninvestigations of the case of payments of bribes to government officials \r\nthroughout Latin America, which contributed to Rangel's 2008 and 2012 campaigns, \r\n\"He always promised that when he had high-level meetings with the Government, he \r\nwould ask to prioritize the development of our works.\"<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In 2012, \r\nRangel won his third election with 173,000 votes (with allegations of fraud and \r\nopportunism made by his contender Andr\u00e9s Vel\u00e1squez) and initiated his third \r\nperiod. He did not only have the support of Odebrecht for that campaign. He also \r\nhad government funds; at least two cases left traces of that. First, five \r\nmillion bolivars that CVG Minerven deposited on September 28, 2012, as \u201cmission \r\nfunds,\u201d in the account of Corpobrica - a company of Yamal Mustafa - in Banco \r\nCaron\u00ed for snacks for proselytizing events. Second, funds from the government \r\nitself, intended for propaganda ?at least 664 million \r\nbolivars.<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-21.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>State companies were also petty cash for Rangel G\u00f3mez\u2019s campaigns. Minerven was one of them. PHOTOS: MARCOS VALVERDE.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-22.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>State companies were also petty cash for Rangel G\u00f3mez\u2019s campaigns. Minerven was one of them. PHOTOS: MARCOS VALVERDE.<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nThe next \r\nyear, after Mustafa\u2019s imprisonment, many assumed that the government of Rangel \r\nG\u00f3mez had come to an end, but he overcame obstacles to remain in power until the \r\nend of his third term.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In 2018, based on a press release of El Pitazo<\/a>, several \r\nVenezuelan media assumed that Rangel G\u00f3mez and his wife, Nidia Escobar, were \r\nseeking asylum in Mexico. When asked about it, the National Migration Institute \r\nof Mexico refused to give information for this \r\ninvestigation.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
However, a \r\nsource from that agency confirmed that in September 2018, Rangel was detained \r\nfor a few hours at the International Airport of Cancun, the beach resort in the \r\nYucatan Peninsula. Immigration authorities interrogated him about the status of \r\nthe sanctions imposed by both the United States and Canada. When they determined \r\nthat there was no court ruling, they let him go.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
According \r\nto the Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) of the US Department of the \r\nTreasury, until May 2017, Diosdado Cabello Rond\u00f3n, governor of Miranda from 2004 \r\nto 2008, president of the National Assembly of Venezuela from 2013 to 2015, the \r\nsecond in command of Chavismo<\/i>, \r\ndeveloped \u201cillegal\u201d mining businesses related to other personalities in \r\nVenezuelan politics, including Francisco Jos\u00e9 Rangel \r\nG\u00f3mez.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
Based on \r\nthe accusation, Cabello Rond\u00f3n and Rangel G\u00f3mez would have laundered money from \r\nVenezuelan coffers by embezzling funds through apartment buildings and shopping \r\ncenters. In addition, Cabello, Rangel G\u00f3mez and their associates would have \r\nworked together to illegally access mining. Specifically, they would have \r\nextracted iron for export through Ferrominera del Orinoco (FMO). Although FMO is \r\na legitimate company, Cabello and his associates would be linked to company \r\nleaders that facilitated the illegal extraction and export of the extracted \r\nmaterial.<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-23.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>In 2017, the grandsons of Rangel G\u00f3mez traveled to Mexico and the Dominican Republic with the former first lady. PHOTOS: MARCOS VALVERDE<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-24.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>In 2017, the grandsons of Rangel G\u00f3mez traveled to Mexico and the Dominican Republic with the former first lady. PHOTOS: MARCOS VALVERDE<\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\nThere is at \r\nleast another certainty about Cancun and the Rangel Escobar family kept in the \r\nFirst Notary Office of Puerto Ordaz, a permit signed by Francisco Jos\u00e9 Rangel \r\nEscobar and Aline Ren\u00e9e Urreiztieta de Rangel for their two children (a girl and \r\na boy) to travel abroad accompanied by Nidia Escobar de Rangel. Date of the \r\ntrip: April 7, 2017. Itinerary: from Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar International Airport, in \r\nMaiquet\u00eda, to Cancun International Airport. Aircraft registration number: \r\nN787NM.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
In the same \r\nnotary office, there is another virtually simultaneous authorization for Nidia \r\nEscobar to travel with those grandchildren from Maiquet\u00eda to Santo Domingo, \r\nDominican Republic, on April 17, 2017, on the same \r\nplane. <\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/armando.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/01092019-25.jpg\")
The oldest daughter of Rangel G\u00f3mez also cultivated her business in Guayana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n The First \r\nNotary Office not only reveals that information about trips on private flights, \r\nbut also other businesses of the Rangel G\u00f3mez family.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
For \r\nexample, in the 2017 files of that office is the document whereby the \r\nrepresentative of company Come Sano, with tax information registry J-40555534-3 \r\n(incorporated in 2015), rents a premise on the ground floor of Centro \r\nEmpresarial 303, in Alta Vista, Puerto Ordaz. In that premise operates the O2 \r\ngym, owned by the representative of that company, Mar\u00eda Alejandra Rangel \r\nEscobar, the eldest daughter of the former governor, who in 2015, asked the PSUV \r\nmilitants not to be upset if they did not get food, because he was willing to \u201ceat sticks and fried stones\u201d to defend the \u201crevolution\u201d<\/a>.Today, in \r\nBol\u00edvar, only some of the thousands of fences with the image of Rangel G\u00f3mez are \r\nleft. They are no longer colorful and bright, but opaque, as he prefers to be \r\nnow.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n
*PODER \r\n(Mexican non-profit organization) collaborated with this report from Mexico City \r\nand will publish a version on its web \r\nportal.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n