These journalists took on Venezuela’s corruption—and paid the price

A Dangerous assignment is the film Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro does not want you to watch. It tells the story of now-exiled journalists who uncovered one of the country's most infamous corruption cases.

Last May, Venezuelan attorney general Tarek William Saab Halabi announced that journalists Roberto Deniz and Ewald Scharfenberg are complicit in the "PDVSA Crypto" scandal, during which former vice president and oil minister of Venezuela, Tareck El Aissami, a close ally of Maduro, was arrested along with dozens of others in an operation publicised by the authorities. The arrests took place last May, and El Aissami subsequently faced charges of treason and appropriation of public funds, influence peddling, money laundering and criminal association. The case involves a network of PDVSA (Venezuela's oil company)  executives who allegedly exploited their positions to carry out illegal operations, including some involving cryptocurrencies, according to the attorney general.

Critics allege that Tarek Saab’s office has used the case to carry out political persecution, targeting individuals the Maduro government aims to silence or punish.

Deniz and Scharfenberg are among the founders of Armando.Info, a Venezuelan investigative journalism platform established in 2014 that has published, among other reports, several investigative pieces on corruption incidents in the Maduro government. One of these investigations probed the "PDVSA Crypto" scandal involving Tarek El Assiami. And although they have since been forced into exile, Deniz told FairPlanet, they would never imagined being accused of colluding with El Assiami, someone they have investigated themselves since 2023. 

The current accusations against these journalists, including charges related to terrorism and incitement to hatred, have been widely criticised as politically motivated. Human rights groups and press freedom advocates argue that these charges stem from a compromised judicial system in Venezuela. Journalists, whistle-blowers and democracy activists, including young activist Edgaryls Castaneda Rodríguez, have reportedly been forced into exile and subjected to smear campaigns and legal harassment.

The CLAP scandal 

On 4 February 2025, PBS Frontline broadcast an updated version of A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro’s Venezuela, a documentary about Armando.Info’s investigations into Alex Saab, a Colombian-born Venezuelan businessman who served under Maduro as the country’s Minister of Industry and National Production since 18 October 2024.  

To understand the circumstanced that led the Armado.info journalists to be forced into exile, one has to journey back to 2016, when Venezuela was in great social and economic turmoil. President Nicolás Maduro had just taken office following the death of Hugo Chávez. Amid a worsening economic crisis and widespread food shortages, the Maduro government launched a new initiative known as CLAP (Local Committees for Supply and Production, or Comité Local de Abastecimiento y Producción), aimed at delivering essential food to those at risk of starvation. The programme was placed under the control of controversial businessman Alex Saab.

The film A Dangerous Assignment exposes a far-reaching corruption scandal stretching from Venezuela to the United States, revealing how the CLAP programme fell far short of government claims and how journalists investigating it became targets of Maduro’s regime.

As Deniz explained to FairPlanet, the CLAP programme profited by distributing low-quality, often mislabeled food products to starving families. According to him, the initiative served as a vehicle to channel lucrative contracts to businessmen close to the president - most notably Alex Saab. The food, Deniz highlighted, was frequently substandard and offered little nutritional value.

"We started reporting about CLAP back in 2016-17," he said. "Towards 2018, we understood that we are in danger of arrests and imprisonment. After the police raided my parents’ house, I understood that I must leave the country. It was a hard decision to make, but I had no choice."

Deniz was initially accused of defaming Alex Saab. Later, in 2017, the Maduro government introduced a "Law Against Hatred," which imposed penalties such as imprisonment, media shutdowns and heavy fines. According to Deniz, the law has functionally become a go-to tool for targeting independent investigative journalists - alongside frequent allegations of terrorism. Since the most recent elections in July 2024, he said, the situation has gotten progressively worse.

Deniz has been unable to return to Venezuela since fleeing to Colombia in 2018. He remains separated from his aging parents, siblings and the rest of his family.

"I didn’t know I would be forced to stay in exile for seven years," he shared. "I thought I would go away and wait a few months, see how things turn out. But I realised quite fast that there is no way for me to go back."

He added that even if the government were to change tomorrow, which seems increasingly unlikely after Maduro hijacked the country in the last elections, it would still take time to resolve the allegations against him.

Denis was not the only journalist targeted by Maduro’s government,

"The persecution of journalists is not a new thing in Venezuela," he said. "It started with Chávez, and got much worse since Maduro took power. I don’t know the exact number, but only since the elections last summer, at least 15 journalists were imprisoned on similar false allegations."

Following Venezuela’s most recent election, up to 23 journalists were detained for varying periods, along with 221 opposition politicians and five human rights activists.

Ewald Scharfenberg, another founder of Armando.info, also had to flee Venezuela around the same time, and is now living in Miami.  

"Maduro’s government is smart," Deniz said with a bitter smile. "They care mainly for their propaganda and public image. So, they say everywhere, they’re proud that they don’t kill journalists like they used to do in other parts of Latin America in the past. They pride themselves on the fact they never did that in Venezuela, which is true, but then again, they don’t need to do it as they just throw you in prison under false, fabricated allegations."

"If one visits Venezuela without knowing much about the system there," he added, "if you just watched their TV channels and read their papers, you’d think you’re in a different place as there is no real news reported there anymore.

"You can’t read free, independent journalism there at all. They have blocked all the websites, like Armando.info, and others. If you want to read us there you need a VPN, and it’s a risk."

Change May Be a Generation Away

When asked whether he sees any hope for his country - or for his own situation - Deniz responded that he remains deeply pessimistic. He shared that, as a young literature student in the 1990s, he never planned to become an investigative journalist. It was the rise of Hugo Chávez that ultimately compelled him to take that path.

"The country had a great chance in the last elections. But they meddled with the elections and international monitors from the US and EU said it was not free or fair. The opposition leader, Edmundo Gonzales won the elections, but had to flee to Spain, as Maduro was declared winner without any evidence. So, I think for people of my generation - this country is gone, but maybe the young generation will learn about normal life elsewhere and bring change."

Do you ever fear that they would come after you in your exile in Bogota?          

"There’s always this fear. I do know they have tried in the past before the new government of Gustavo Petro was elected here in Colombia. I know for fact that they were asking about me. Now, it’s less likely, but the danger is always there."

"I hope that Venezuela can change," he added. "If that happens, I hope to come back to Venezuela. But right now, I'm not sure that that is going to happen."

The documentary about Deniz’s story has reached a global audience of millions, airing on PBS and streaming on Amazon - exactly the kind of exposure Maduro, Saab and their allies strive to suppress. Yet despite this international spotlight, the reality for Deniz and other investigative journalists and activists in exile remains largely unchanged.

When asked where he finds solace, Deniz said: in his work.

"All we can do is continue and do our investigative journalistic work, continue to expose their corruption with the hope that this will bring a bigger change one day."

Header image: Still from the film A Dangerous Assignment.