“A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro’s Venezuela”<\/a> being released May 14.<\/p>\nThe documentary follows Armando Info as the Venezuelan media outlet uncovers a transnational scheme that it alleged benefited President Nicolas Maduro and others, including a businessman named Alex Saab.<\/p>\n
The revelations made Deniz and his editors targets of the Maduro government and forced the journalist into exile in 2018. His house was raided and he faces jail if he ever returns to his country.<\/p>\n
Despite everything, Deniz feels the risk was worth it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important thing that this documentary shows is that we can see the real nature of Maduro\u2019s regime. All this happened when Venezuela was going through its worst economic crisis,\u201d he told VOA.<\/p>\n
Juan Ravell, the documentary\u2019s director, said Deniz\u2019s work was like a \u201cdetective story\u201d that he felt compelled to turn into a film.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sounds corny, but I am a fan of Roberto\u2019s work. I wanted to show a little of how the sausage is made \u2014 the backstage work. How he takes a source on and verifies it with another source. It is about the craft of journalism and about the risks,\u201d Ravell said.<\/p>\n
That journalism led to results, including an arrest and sanctions against Saab, whom the U.S. Treasury said had orchestrated a \u201cvast corruption network\u201d that let Maduro and his government \u201csignificantly profit from food imports and distribution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maduro himself has not directly referenced the reporting but he did publicly say that his government had fixed irregularities in the program, Deniz said.<\/p>\n
Aid scandal<\/strong><\/p>\nMaduro\u2019s government created what was known as the CLAP program in 2016 to provide quality essential food items to Venezuelans hit by the nation\u2019s economic crisis.<\/p>\n
But instead, Armando Info found, low-quality products were purchased.<\/p>\n
A chemical analysis conducted by the Institute of Food Science and Technology, at the Central University of Venezuela at the request of Armando Info, showed some powdered milk offered as part of the CLAP scheme was so low in calcium and high in sodium that a researcher noted it could not be classified as milk at all.<\/p>\n
Deniz and his colleagues also found that the CLAP initiative was enriching Saab, whom they said was the biggest contractor for the food program.<\/p>\n
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\nReleased in May, the documentary “A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro’s Venezuela” looks at the risks journalists take to investigate high level corruption. (FRONTLINE\/Armando.info)<\/span>When Saab sued for defamation after the first stories were published in 2017, Deniz fled Venezuela but continued the investigation from his new home in Colombia. From there, the story evolved into an international effort to bring Saab to justice.<\/p>\n
In 2019, the U.S. government indicted Saab on charges that he laundered $350 million. The businessman, who was arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 when his plane stopped to refuel, had said the charges were politically motivated.<\/p>\n
A federal prosecutor who met Saab says in the documentary that the businessman later admitted that he paid bribes to Venezuelan government officials in connection with the lucrative food contracts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a story of corruption, of kleptocracy, on a scale the world has not seen,\u201d Marshall Billingslea, a former U.S. Treasury official who helped build the case against Saab, told FRONTLINE, \u201cThe things [Saab] was doing on behalf of Maduro were unconscionable.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, in December 2023, Saab was freed in a prisoner swap by the U.S. government in exchange for 10 Americans and several political prisoners.<\/p>\n
Parallel to efforts to bring charges against those allegedly involved in the corrupt aid scheme were attempts to file legal charges against the journalists who exposed it.<\/p>\n
In 2021, a criminal court in Caracas issued an arrest warrant for Deniz on charges of \u201cinciting hate,\u201d which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The ruling means he will not be able to return home while he faces these charges.<\/p>\n
Officials have also denounced the journalists.<\/p>\n
Most recently, Venezuela\u2019s attorney general alleged in May that Armando Info was part of a \u201cmedia structure\u201d that used extortion to wage a dirty war against the government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have taken a lot of risks to do this investigation,\u201d said Deniz, who had to leave his parents and a brother behind when he fled. \u201cThe most difficult thing about doing this job is the family. They suffer. It is not easy for them to understand how I continue. But as a journalist I have no choice but to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro\u2019s Venezuela\u201d premieres on Tuesday, May 14, on PBS and on YouTube.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nSource link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Madrid \u2014\u00a0 Uncovering a multimillion-dollar aid scandal in Venezuela took great personal and professional risks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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