Ex‑Spanish PM Zapatero tied to Venezuelan businessmen’s Spanish nationality payments

Venezuelan brothers Domingo Arnaldo and Guillermo Alfredo Amaro Chacón, owners of the firm Inteligencia Prospectiva, paid more than one million euros to companies linked to former Spanish prime minister José Luis Zapatero and his daughters. The businessmen sought Zapatero’s assistance to obtain Spanish citizenship, as shown by intercepted messages between Guillermo Amaro Chacón and Zapatero’s secretary Gertrudis Alcázar.

In a hearing before the Audiencia Nacional, judge José Luis Calama asked Zapatero whether the brothers had received Spanish nationality; Zapatero confirmed he knew the family but denied any involvement with their companies. Calama disclosed that Inteligencia Prospectiva transferred €380,000 to Análisis Relevante (owned by Zapatero’s close associate), €266,000 to Gate Center, and €551,760 to Wathefav SL, a company owned by Zapatero’s daughters Laura and Alba Rodríguez Espinosa.

The anti‑corruption unit UDEF described Inteligencia Prospectiva as a shell company used to channel foreign funds into Spain. The brothers have now been recorded as having obtained Spanish nationality in the official commercial register. The investigation also references trips by Zapatero to Bolivia and Peru involving the businessmen.