{"id":25389,"date":"2019-02-19T16:19:18","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T21:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=25389"},"modified":"2019-02-19T16:19:18","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T21:19:18","slug":"panama-papers-tightened-noose-offshore-assets-maduros-inner-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/panama-papers-tightened-noose-offshore-assets-maduros-inner-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"Panama Papers \u2018tightened the noose\u2019 on offshore assets of Maduro\u2019s inner circle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

O<\/span><\/span>n Avenida Balboa, Panama<\/a> City\u2019s premier seafront avenue, the 50 story tower blocks form a near continuous wall of glass to the Pacific Ocean. At night, however, most of the luxury apartments remain in darkness and the basement casinos are eerily deserted.<\/p>\n

Panamanian real estate was a favourite investment of the boliburgues, <\/em>Venezuelans who grew rich on the back of their political connections<\/a> to the late president Hugo Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> and his successor Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But in the wake of the Panama Papers<\/a> scandal it has become increasingly hard to launder money through the country, cutting off a potential exit route for those looking to cut loose from Maduro\u2019s embattled regime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Panamanian real estate boom began in 2005 \u2013 the Colombians came first, then the Venezuelans,\u201d says Ernesto Gonzalez, an investment advisor for Dproperty, a local property broker. \u201cThey would sometimes buy up seven or eight luxury apartments in the same building and leave them vacant but the market has slowed dramatically in recent years, especially after the Panama Papers<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n