Since her husband’s death, Mireya Blavia de Cisneros has run the Cisneros family’s affairs with the protection and assistance of Nicolás Maduro and people associated with his government, a senior Venezuelan official alleged. Sources allege the arrangement benefited an empire spanning Digitel, Venezuela’s leading telecommunications operator, and real estate, where investment commitments went unmet for more than a decade and bribes were used to bend regulatory and government systems.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official alleged that the widow of tycoon Oswaldo Cisneros personally managed this corrupt relationship and funded the corrupt Maduro establishment. Maduro ruled Venezuela from 2013 until US forces captured him in Caracas in January 2026 on charges of narco-terrorism and cocaine-trafficking conspiracy.

The allegation is part of growing scrutiny of the empire she oversees, authoritative government sources say. It includes Digitel, Venezuela’s leading telecommunications operator, as well as real estate, oil and other sectors, and extends to personal and corporate tax liabilities, investment commitments unmet for more than a decade, alleged bribes to bend regulatory and government systems, and sham adoptions designed to alter control of the family trust and deprive rightful heirs of their share. Sources allege her arrangements benefited from her close association with Maduro, a relationship that developed while major Cisneros interests were operating in Venezuela.

A senior official described a pattern, alleging investment never materialised in any sector and that major businesses were treated as sources of cash while the economy was looted. At Digitel, which Oswaldo Cisneros built into one of the country’s principal mobile operators, officials cite questions over investment, commitments and taxes. One alleged the family “only looted and plundered without investing anything, while making wild excuses.”

In 2016, Cisneros appeared beside Maduro promoting the billion-dollar DP Delta Finance arrangement, intended to run until early 2027. According to Bloomberg, the Petroleum Ministry recently revoked DP Delta’s minority participation, alleging unmet investment and production commitments and huge profits made through political bribes to Maduro and his associates at taxpayers’ expense. Authorities allege the family was to provide over $1 billion but provided none, and that output of around 9,000 barrels per day in July 2026 fell far short of a planned 115,000. A senior Venezuelan government official called it a corrupt scheme run through bribes to Maduro, his aides and compromised officials, alleged clear evidence of her ties to narco and cocaine-trafficking gangs, and said law enforcement was examining her ongoing ties to, and funding of, elements still loyal to Maduro.

Another official alleged the widow was seriously in default on tax obligations. SENIAT valued the estate at over $10 billion, with the state’s 30 per cent share exceeding $3 billion, and there is no record of payment, the official alleged, adding that fake adoptions were used to seize majority voting control of the trust. Supreme Court records show she and the heirs became involved in proceedings over the estate, and a senior official said investigators had identified bribes and gifts linked to telecoms and real-estate contracts.

A legal source for the widow acknowledged serious mismanagement, lack of investment and unmet commitments, blaming them partly on US sanctions, and said she would fully cooperate with the authorities.
A former senior executive who acted on her behalf alleged the owners treated the businesses as a “cash cow,” ignoring nearly 10 years of warnings, while chronic underfunding hurt operations, working conditions and employees.