CARACAS: Six international adoptions by the late Venezuelan billionaire Oswaldo Cisneros and his widow, Mireya Blavia de Cisneros, are back at the heart of a bitter inheritance dispute, with Venezuelan government sources alleging that the adoptions were part of a long-term arrangement to alter voting power inside family structures. Those allegations have not been established by any of the court rulings in the case.
According to those sources, the arrangement increased the voting strength of the Cisneros-Blavia side of the family, allowing Mireya’s branch to gain majority influence over trusts and businesses linked to the Cisneros fortune after Oswaldo’s death, potentially at the expense of his three daughters from his first marriage. One official alleged irregularities and possible fabrication in the adoptions, claiming they were used in a scheme to secure majority voting control of the family trust and diminish the daughters’ interests.
The six children, adopted in Romania and Colombia, are Carmen Elena, Camila Roxana, Alfonso Olaf, Oswaldo Antonio, Laura Gissel and Carla Giovana. Oswaldo and Mireya had no biological children. His daughters from his first marriage are Claudia Susana, Maritza Blanca and María Ella Cisneros Fontanals.
The dispute broke out after Oswaldo Cisneros died in Miami on November 8, 2020. It concerns the adopted children’s inheritance rights, his testamentary arrangements and the administration of an estate tied to telecommunications operator Digitel, oil, real estate and other businesses. Venezuelan government sources say tax authorities valued the estate at more than $10 billion.
Oswaldo’s closed will, registered in Venezuela in December 2017, named Mireya and all nine children as his “sole and universal heirs”. Lawyers for the three daughters have questioned the arrangements, alleging they disadvantaged the daughters by giving the six adopted children greater collective influence. The litigation has also been accompanied by allegations that Mireya sought majority control of family trusts and businesses through the six children’s voting strength.
The status of the adoptions has already been tested in court. Claudia Susana Cisneros Fontanals, who described herself in the proceedings as a legitimate, compulsory and testamentary heir, brought the principal challenge. On May 12, 2021, she argued that the Romanian and Colombian adoption judgments had never undergone exequátur, the process by which certain foreign judgments are formally recognised in Venezuela, and so could not establish the six as Oswaldo’s children for inheritance purposes.
The Social Cassation Chamber of Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal agreed on August 3, 2021, ruling that the six lacked standing in the relevant succession proceedings and ordering related proceedings archived. Mireya sought constitutional review, and on January 31, 2022, the Constitutional Chamber annulled that decision, finding that qualifying international adoptions governed by the Hague Convention did not require the additional exequátur. The ruling defeated the attempt to exclude the children on that ground, but did not resolve every issue in the dispute.
Claudia also filed a separate criminal complaint. In July 2021, a Caracas court admitted her complaint against Mireya alleging private violence, extortion and association to commit crimes. She alleged threats, coercion and other unlawful pressure intended to compel her to perform or tolerate acts she was not legally required to accept, and conduct intended to secure a financial advantage or cause her financial loss. The admission of the complaint did not amount to a finding of guilt, and the available material does not establish its final outcome.
Government sources have also alleged that SENIAT, the tax authority, calculated a potential inheritance-tax liability exceeding $3 billion. One official claimed there was no record of payment and that authorities were examining inheritance and succession-tax obligations. The figures and payment status have not been independently verified.
The same sources allege wider personal and corporate tax liabilities, underinvestment, bribery, political kickbacks and irregularities involving family-linked businesses, including Digitel, one of Venezuela’s largest mobile operators, as well as oil and real estate interests. Officials have alleged failures to meet investment commitments and possible corruption in business dealings during Nicolás Maduro’s presidency. Government sources have also described Mireya as a close ally of the former president and raised suspicions that she has continued lobbying on his behalf; those claims require independent corroboration.
A legal source representing Mireya disputed aspects of the government’s allegations while acknowledging underinvestment and unfulfilled commitments, attributing some of those difficulties to US sanctions affecting Venezuela’s financial system. A legal representative said she would continue to contest the challenges brought by Claudia Susana Cisneros Fontanals.