Pandora's box has been opened. The investigation into the fraudulent acquisition of Italian citizenship by an ally of the Venezuelan dictator is underway. Nicolás Maduro is revealing a possible South American network involved in illegal document trade.
After the investigation was revealed “Passportopolis” by the Italian newspaper Il Tempo, which exposed a series of suspicious practices in the recognition of citizenship by descent in Italian Consulate in Caracas, now the prosecutor's office is deepening investigations into the baptismal certificates required for “jure sanguinis” recognition.
Close ties with the Nicolás Maduro regime
Among these documents are those presented by 23 new Italians, now under scrutiny by investigators and subject to inspections by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Farnesina), following a complaint from the Fratelli d'Italia party deputy, Andrea Di Giuseppe, about alleged irregularities in Caracas.
At the heart of the investigation is the granting of passports to an entire family linked to a Lebanese-Venezuelan tycoon, with close ties to the Nicolás Maduro regime and proximity to Islam.
This tycoon, whose visa was revoked by the United States, would have, together with eight relatives, claimed to be descended from an Italian ancestor, Giuseppe Panfilio Miliani, born June 1, 1850 in Poggio di Marciana, who immigrated to Caracas, where he married a Venezuelan.
However, questions arise about the authenticity of the documents presented by the tycoon's family to prove this ancestry.
Baptism issued by the diocese
The investigation suspects that these documents may have been obtained illegally, through identity theft from the 19th century man or, alternatively, through a document trading network that circulates through Italian consulates abroad. One of the documents in question is a baptism record issued by the diocese of Massa Marittima, in Italy.
The newspaper Il Tempo had access to this document, issued on November 20, 2023, by the diocesan chancellor Giovanni Malpelo. According to him, the record corresponds to the data provided by the person who requested the document, who identified herself as a Chilean woman, claiming to be the great-granddaughter of the supposed Italian ancestor and needing the baptism record to obtain recognition of citizenship by Italian descent.
This situation raises even broader questions, suggesting that similar practices may be occurring in Italian consulates in other South American countries, such as Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina, where individuals may be attempting to reconstruct false family trees to obtain Italian citizenship.
Deputy Di Giuseppe, who denounced the irregularities, highlighted the seriousness of the situation and thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for immediately starting an investigation into the matter.
“After my complaint in January about visas in Venezuela and the Il Tempo investigation, messages and phone calls with serious content appeared, which made a complaint necessary to verify the facts,” said Di Giuseppe. “This is a delicate situation that, according to these messages, would involve people in positions of certain importance and responsibility. What is happening in South America is serious, and I thank Farnesina for acting immediately to investigate what I reported.”
FOLLOW ITALIANISM
