Published at: 14/01/2026 09:00 PM

(Latest News, May 23, 1986 and New York Times, March 5, 1986)

This story demonstrates how the profession of investigative journalism from decades ago remains a fundamental tool for explaining today's reality.

In May 1986, when Jaime Lusinchi was President of the Republic, a corruption scandal broke out with many ramifications that made the front page of all Venezuelan newspapers.

In this case, documents and statements were reproduced about a fraud committed against the Venezuelan nation, published in the Sunday supplement of the New York Times (NYT) of March 5, 1986 entitled: “Venezuela set to buy 50% of Citgo (Venezuela ready to buy 50% of Citgo).

In Caracas, Latest News, after the complaints of Gastón Parra Luzardo and José Vicente Rangel, headlined with a statement from the interviewee that read verbatim: “We steal absolutely from Venezuela.”

Journalist Winston William put his finger on the right key, revealing how the company Southland Corporation, owner of a bankrupt chain known as 7 Eleven, won a fortune of $300 million thanks to the sale of an obsolete refinery considered at the time to be industrial scrap.

The ramifications of the investigation also led to the discovery of the relationship between “capital flight” and thousands of bank accounts opened daily in Miami, Florida, by politicians and businessmen totaling more than $35 billion, whose amount exceeded foreign debt.

The NYT published the statements of a businessman, John Thompson, who explained how he managed to buy the Lake Charles refineries (CITGO) for 250 million dollars and then sell half of the shares to PDVSA for an overprice of $300 million, remaining the owner of the other part of the company, which was very shady negotiated with Venezuelan oil executives.

President Lusinchi vigorously protested the publications and demanded that journalist Winston William publicly retract. The journalist never did it, as he stated that while Venezuela was plunging into foreign debt, politicians and businessmen had extracted a figure almost identical to the foreign debt by operating a massive phenomenon of capital flight that was facilitated with a red carpet by the legal and financial system of the United States.

For journalist Williams, the purchase of industrial scrap, by PDVSA, was just a sign of the plunder carried out against Venezuela. Emphasizing in his articles the immense flow of stolen capital, whose brazen avalanche decapitalized the country, while the people were suffering severe measures of economic austerity.

On this occasion, the oil analyst and founder of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo, denounced that not only was Venezuela buying old refineries at inflated prices, but that Venezuela was taking itself a “hostage” to the United States by investing in foreign land. Internationalization that became a national scam or legalized corruption.

Williams highlighted in his reports how oil discounts were a direct subsidy from the poorest Venezuelans to the multibillionaires of Texas and Wall Street.

Moreover, in 1990, the Thompson family (owner of the other half of Citgo) knocked on the door to Venezuela again and this time Carlos Andrés Pérez bought the other 50% at an even higher price.

Thus, while U.S. banks were pressuring Venezuela to pay its foreign debt, on the other hand, those same banks protected politicians and businessmen who illegally obtained billions from the Venezuelan public purse.

Winston Williams, in fact, never retracted his complaints. In fact, all his reports on Venezuela are now studied in the most important communication schools as a perfect example of how investigative journalism can predict a “social explosion” after the collapse of an economy: El Caracazo.

Mazo News Team