Hugo Chávez Dead: How Much Was The Venezuelan President Worth?

Hugo Chávez's death left Venezuela in tears and uncertainty over what is going to happen next. But as the funeral is arranged and the government is getting ready for changes, news of the personal wealth of the revolutionary president have come to light.

A report from risk assessment and global analysis firm Criminal Justice International Associates alleges that the Chávez family and hundreds of other associates have stolen one-tenth of the $1 trillion raked in Venezuela since 1999 in oil sales.

Head of CJIA Jerry Brewer has said that since Chávez came to power in the late '90s, his family joined in league with criminal organizations to appropriate $100 billion up until his death on Tuesday. He states that the Chávez family might have been bolstered by absconding money from the people of Venezuela.

"We believe that organized Bolivarian criminal groups within the Chávez administration have subtracted around $100 billion out of the nearly $1 million in oil income made by PDVSA (Venezuelan national oil company) since 1999."

Energy analyst Stephen Schork says that Chávez deprived his people of vast oil revenues, when he purged PDVSA of talent and replaced it with "political stooges."

Chávez's authoritarian regime was characterized by an open disregard of human rights and an accumulation of power, according to NGO Human Rights Watch.

"Hugo Chávez and his followers seized control of the Supreme Court and undercut the ability of journalists, human rights defenders and other Venezuelans to exercise fundamental rights."