Venezuela’s hated first lady
As the South American country is brought to its knees many citizens blame the spouse of the tyrannical president for all the chaos and corruption
HER FACE glows with pride as she watches her husband. Even though President Nicolás Maduro is a corrupt dictator who’s brought Venezuela to its knees, his wife always gazes at him as though he’s the best thing since sliced bread. How can she be so wilfully blind? To some the answer is simple: they say she’s even more rotten than he is.
Cilia Flores is so hated people have taken to referring to her as “the Lady Macbeth of South America”. While her husband moves from one disaster to the next, it’s thought that Cilia is the puppet master pulling the strings.
“She’s a Venezuelan Claire Underwood,” says John Polga-Hecimovich, an assistant professor in political science at the US Naval Academy – a reference to the scheming president’s wife played by Robin Wright in the hit series House of Cards.
But not only is Cilia (62) – a former lawyer – power-hungry, she’s also greedy and, worst of all, doesn’t seem to give two hoots about her people. While many Venezuelans struggle even to afford one meal a day she’s happy to be seen out with her husband, feasting on a juicy steak.
With her husband’s presidency looking increasingly shaky it’s thought she and Nicolás may have been ferrying billions out of the country, stashing a fortune away in foreign bank accounts. There’s talk of embezzled oil money, gold bars going missing from the central reserve and collusion with drug and weapons traffickers.
Canada has even included her on a list of people it considers “responsible for the deterioration of democracy”.
Meanwhile the US Treasury Department imposed targeted sanctions on Cilia personally for her alleged role in “aiding corruption, drug trafficking, and human rights abuses”. This means all her property and assets there – which are believed to be fairly substantial – have been frozen.
The move clearly hit a nerve. Upon learning of the sanctions Nicolás (56) was furious. “You don’t mess with Cilia,” he said in a televised address. “You don’t mess with family. Don’t be cowards! Her only crime is being my wife.”
WHEN her husband became president in 2013, Cilia made a big show of rejecting the title of first lady. It was “too bourgeois”, she said. Instead she wanted to be known as “the first fighter of the fatherland and the first woman of the people”.
But these days she’s just seen as walking proof of how power corrupts.
She grew up in a humble home in the small town of Tinaquillo and her love of motorbikes earned her the nickname “Biker Girl”.
She married her high-school sweetheart, Walter Gavidia, had three children and received a law degree from Universidad Santa María in Caracas in the 1980s.
As one of Hugo Chávez’s defence team, she played a key role in getting the revolutionary released from jail following his unsuccessful coup attempt in 1992. He introduced her to her future husband.
Nicolás, a former bus driver, had risen through the ranks of the trade unions and was an ardent supporter of Chávez’s Bolivarian socialist revolution. After Chávez swept to power in 1999 he served as foreign minister and also had a stint as vice-president.
Chávez also rewarded Cilia for her loyalty by making her the female president of the country’s legislature. She was later appointed state attorney general.
Although Nicolás and Cilia were an item from the early ‘90s they tied the knot only in 2013. By this stage he was already president – he’d taken over the position after Chávez (58) suffered a fatal heart attack just months after being sworn in to serve his fourth term in office.
In addition to serving as first lady Cilia took over as deputy in the country’s National Assembly, but found herself embroiled in controversy after it came to light she’d used her clout to ensure more than 40 of her relatives got jobs in various political offices.
“Cilia is a very intelligent and ambitious woman,” journalist and political activist Noris Argotte says. “In the pro-government media she’s portrayed as a fighter but her haters see her as a woman who’s taken advantage of her position to have luxuries.”
Insiders say she’s Nicolás’ “chief adviser” and that he doesn’t make any decisions without first consulting her. And this is why many blame her for the country’s disastrous decline.
Once Latin America’s most prosperous nation, oil-rich Venezuela’s economy has shrunk by almost 50% since Nicolás took over. Experts say this is largely due to corruption and mismanagement – and now ordinary people are paying the price.
The health system collapsed and grocery stores are empty. But even if there was food most people wouldn’t be able to afford it. The International Monetary Fund anticipates Venezuela’s inflation rate will hit 10 million percent in 2019, making it one of the worst cases of hyperinflation in modern history.
Meanwhile Nicolás, desperate to cling to power, has resorted to jailing critics of his regime. When he’s out with his wife he doesn’t look as if he has a care in the world – the couple are often seen holding hands and walking around arms entwined.
Eager to help boost his appeal, Cilia even started hosting a reality TV show that showed her visiting paediatric hospitals and old-age homes. It was so bland and boring critics panned it and viewership ratings were dismal.
Although Cilia claims to be a follower of the kabbalah faith and constantly preaches messages of anti-materialism, she’s often seen in designer clothing.
Meanwhile her three sons from her first marriage, Yosser, Walter and Yoswal, are under investigation in America for their suspected role in a massive international money-laundering scheme, which saw money plundered from Venezuela’s national oil company being stashed away in secret bank accounts.
It’s thought that they may have pocketed as much as $200 million (R2,7 billion) from the dodgy scheme.
In addition two of Cilia’s nephews, Efrain (31) and Franqui Flores (33), are behind bars in America serving 18-year sentences for trying to smuggle $20 million (R270 million) worth of cocaine into the country. In court filings in 2017 the pair, who were raised by Cilia and Nicolás, claimed they’d been smuggling drugs to raise cash to “keep their family in power”.
These days Nicolás looks as if he needs all the help he can get. As evidence points to outrageous vote rigging in last year’s election, dozens of countries are now recognising the head of the opposition, Juan Guaidó, as the country’s legitimate president.
But at time of going to print Nicolás was point-blank refusing to vacate office. Amid heavy street protests aimed at getting him to leave, the beleaguered president appealed to people to pray for him. “I ask that you give me your blessings and I ask for peace and for the future of Venezuela. I ask for enough love to take the reins of the country towards a better destination.”
But while love may be in short supply among his people there can be no doubt he can always count on his wife. If it were up to her he’d be president for life.