The fortune behind Digitel, one of Venezuela’s largest mobile telecommunications operators, is at the centre of a bitter inheritance dispute that pits the widow of the late billionaire Oswaldo Cisneros against his three daughters from his first marriage, with six adopted children caught in the middle.
The estate is linked to Digitel as well as oil, real estate and other businesses. Venezuelan government sources say tax authorities valued it at more than $10 billion. The litigation concerns inheritance rights and who controls and administers those assets.
Cisneros died in Miami on November 8, 2020. On one side of the dispute is the Cisneros-Fontanals branch: his daughters Claudia Susana, Maritza Blanca and María Ella Cisneros Fontanals. On the other are his widow, Mireya Blavia de Cisneros, with whom he had no biological children, and the six children the couple adopted in Romania and Colombia: Carmen Elena, Camila Roxana, Alfonso Olaf, Oswaldo Antonio, Laura Gissel and Carla Giovana.
Mireya has faced scrutiny over her management of family interests spanning telecommunications, oil and real estate. Venezuelan government officials have alleged failures to meet investment commitments, outstanding personal and corporate tax liabilities, and possible corruption in business dealings during the presidency of Nicolás Maduro.
Government sources have also alleged underinvestment, bribery, political kickbacks and irregularities involving family-linked businesses, including Digitel.
A legal source representing Mireya disputed aspects of the government’s allegations while acknowledging problems involving underinvestment and unfulfilled commitments. The source attributed some of those difficulties to US sanctions affecting Venezuela’s financial system.
At the heart of the family dispute are the adopted children’s inheritance rights, Cisneros’s testamentary arrangements and administration of the estate. His 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 those arrangements, alleging they disadvantaged the daughters by giving the six adopted children greater collective influence over family interests.
The litigation has been accompanied by allegations that Mireya sought majority control of family trusts and businesses through the voting strength of the six adopted children. Venezuelan government sources allege the adoptions formed part of a long-term arrangement to alter voting power within family structures and give Mireya’s branch majority influence after Cisneros’s death.
One official alleged irregularities and possible fabrication in the adoptions, claiming they were part of a scheme to obtain majority voting control of the family trust and diminish the daughters’ interests. These allegations have not been established by the court rulings in the case.
The principal challenge was brought by Claudia Susana Cisneros Fontanals, who described herself as a legitimate, compulsory, and testamentary heir. On May 12, 2021, she challenged the standing of the six Cisneros-Blavia children, arguing that their adoption judgments had never undergone exequátur, the procedure by which certain foreign judgments are formally recognised in Venezuela.
On August 3, 2021, the Social Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal held that the foreign adoptions required exequátur, ruled that the six lacked standing in the relevant succession proceedings, and ordered related proceedings archived. Mireya sought constitutional review, and on January 31, 2022, the Constitutional Chamber annulled that judgment, finding that qualifying international adoptions governed by the Hague Convention did not need the additional exequátur.
The decision defeated the attempt to exclude the six on that ground, though it did not resolve every issue in the dispute. In July 2021, a Caracas court admitted a separate criminal complaint by Claudia against Mireya alleging private violence, extortion and association to commit crimes.
Claudia alleged threats, coercion, and other unlawful pressure meant to force her to perform or tolerate acts she was not legally required to accept, as well as conduct intended to gain a financial advantage or cause her financial loss. The admission was not a finding of guilt, and the available material does not establish the outcome.
Government sources also allege that the SENIAT tax authority calculated a potential inheritance-tax liability of more than $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.
Government sources have further described Mireya as a close ally of former president Nicolás Maduro and raised suspicions that she has continued lobbying on his behalf. Those claims require independent corroboration. A legal representative for Mireya said she would continue to contest the legal challenges brought by Claudia Susana Cisneros Fontanals.