From Hybrid Regime to ‘Mafia State:’ Explaining the Criminal Transformation of the Venezuelan State

How do corrupt practices evolve into the almost complete criminalisation of the state? What are the conditions necessary for a mafia state to emerge? And, how do we know when a state has become a mafia state? This paper sets out to answer these questions through the case study of Venezuela during the regimes of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. Beginning with President Chávez and continuing under President Maduro, Venezuela has evolved into a complex kleptocracy aided by the systematic removal of transparency and accountability measures in the Venezuela political system. The complex nexus between criminality and the Venezuelan state draws on the participation of Venezuelan government officials and policy elites ranging from but not limited the ministries of the vice president, defence, foreign affairs, intelligence, finance and the national guard. The lines between organised crime and the state have blurred to such an extent that sophisticated illicit networks involved in criminal activities such as drug trafficking and money-laundering operate not just with impunity but thrive through the vested interests of key members of the Venezuelan executive. This paper will identify a combination of internal and external factors over the past two decades that have provided the necessary conditions for Venezuela’s transition from a hybrid regime to a modern ‘Mafia State.