Prospective Intelligence is defined as: “Organizational consulting, with economic, industrial, commercial advice and integrated management.” And the judge of the National Court José Luis Calama puts it this way: “It clearly exceeds the capacities and functions typical of a common businessman, involving first-level State matters that have nothing to do with the usual operations of a commercial company.” Until a week ago, this company based in Madrid was completely unknown in Spain and Venezuela. Until it came to light with the indictment of President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
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The magistrate’s order pointed out that it is a company created by two Venezuelan brothers, Amaro Chacón, in January 2020 and with which they transferred one million euros to three entities linked to the former president: the company of his daughters, the company of his friend Julio Martínez, Julito, and a think tank whose advisory board was chaired by Zapatero.
During its first two years of existence, they did not even have income or employees, according to the data from the Mercantile Registry, and in the following three years, with only one employee and barely 30,000 euros of declared income, they injected more than one million euros to cover the accumulated losses from payments to Whathefav, the company of the former socialist president’s daughters; Análisis Relevante, the company of Julio Martínez Martínez, and Gate Center, the think tank that Zapatero chaired until June 2025. Despite this, its high losses, with more than 2.5 million euros moving through its accounts in total, something “incongruous” that the judge highlighted this week in his order.
Not only that, several reports from the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the National Police indicate that this company also connected businessmen and the Chinese Communist Party through the network with Zapatero, so that he allegedly intermediated with the Venezuelan Government for the purchase and sale of oil. But who is behind Prospective Intelligence and what importance could it have in the investigation of the Plus Ultra case? In the streets of Caracas, the answer when asked about the Amaro Chacón brothers is almost always the same:
—Damn, I have no idea who they are.
Businessmen, investors, and even officials from the high spheres of Chavismo repeat it. “I had never heard those names. I’m going to ask.” They are, apparently, extraordinarily discreet. Or many people have suddenly decided they don’t know them. They are the third generation of a Venezuelan business family of Jordanian origin that has survived Chavismo. From their father, they inherited the business empire — insurance, agriculture and livestock, and strategic minerals — and from their mother, a political tradition: a great-aunt was president of Acción Democrática, a historic party in Venezuela. They studied in the United States and six years ago landed, at the start of the pandemic year, in Madrid.
In the capital, they obtained Spanish nationality last February, and last week, unexpected fame in light of the Plus Ultra case. So far, the investigations have revealed that one of the several companies they manage, Prospective Intelligence, moved more than 2.6 million euros between 2020 and 2025, despite having practically no economic activity. The judge interprets that this money, “simulated as capital increases,” was the way to introduce foreign capital into Spain.
Since they landed business-wise in Madrid, the Amaro Chacón brothers have been methodical. Between January 2020 and January 2024, they established at least seven commercial companies — Prospective Intelligence, Ibero-American Assets, Ibero-American Resources, Technological Foresight, Critical Metals, Strategic Minerals, and Green Energy Metals — all with a very similar pattern: same corporate purpose, same fiscal addresses on Paseo de La Habana or Andrés Mellado street. When agents from the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) went to search the headquarters of Prospective Intelligence on Paseo de La Habana in Madrid, they found a single-family home under construction.
This newspaper has contacted Prospective Intelligence to learn their assessment of the facts, but after asking questions by phone, the operator hung up without answering any.
Of the two brothers, Domingo is the one who appears in the communications intercepted by the Spanish justice system. One of the alleged schemes described in the order is that he acted as an intermediary connecting Chinese buyers of Venezuelan oil with the network. The judge suspects that in this and other dealings attributed to the network — purchase and sale of gold, shares, currency operations, delivery routes — Zapatero participated in one way or another, indicted for influence peddling and other related crimes.
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Domingo Amaro, in fact, sent messages to Zapatero through Julio Martínez, according to a report prepared by the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the National Police. The document shows several of these exchanges where Amaro updates the former socialist leader “on the news,” including meetings with “the Lady” (whom the judicial investigation identifies as Delcy Rodríguez) and “President M.” Not only that, Amaro also asks him to intervene to facilitate meetings or visits involving members of the then Venezuelan Government. “We totally agree, President, although only you could get the visit to Blue to be included again on the agenda,” is one of the messages, dated March 2023.
The message exchange also reveals the necessary influence of Zapatero in the Venezuelan Government to channel the management of the oil purchase and sale. An example: Domingo Amaro Chacón writes to Julio Martínez in October 2023 to inform him that Philippe Apikian, president of the company Swissoil Trading S.A., “and the Chinese are ready to buy ships,” also that they are ready “to travel to meet with the Lady and the Minister of Oil.” But they must address Zapatero through a letter (known as Letter Of Intent) to start the process.
Finally, at the end of that month, the Chinese Communist Party company “China International Cultural Technology Resources Group Co Ltd” sent the letter to the former president’s office. “[This] reveals the modus operandi, showing the participation and influence of Zapatero, who has access to people of the highest political responsibility,” says the UDEF report.
Domingo Amaro Chacón, according to the judge, is also one of the recipients that Zapatero sent in a list to Análisis Relevante, the company of his friend Julio Martínez Martínez, so they would send him the reports allegedly prepared by Zapatero himself on Martínez’s behalf. The author of the reports thus communicated to the publishing company the clients who were going to buy them. Additionally, Prospective Intelligence transferred half a million euros to the company of Zapatero’s daughters — Whathefav — without any record of what service was provided in return, since it is not recorded what economic activity Prospective Intelligence carried out.
How did it survive then? Through capital increases (almost 700,000 euros since 2020) and annual contributions from “partners” (about 600,000 euros). In total, the injected money almost reaches 1.3 million euros, a figure close to the total amount of 1.20 million with VAT that Prospective Intelligence paid to three companies: Análisis Relevante, Whathefav, and the Gate Center association, located in a large penthouse on Velázquez street in Madrid that is also under Judge Calama’s scrutiny.
Here, on the seventh floor, is the headquarters of Gate Center, an association, a think tank, a laboratory of ideas of thought created in April 2022. It was dedicated to analyzing problems and proposing solutions through reports and analyses by global progressive experts with a focus on the Asian country. Sources from Gate Center indicate that their funds came from at least four companies, but none Venezuelan or Asian.
Prospective Intelligence, the company of the Venezuelan brothers, deposited 266,200 euros between 2023 and 2024, according to the judge’s order. Gate Center, in turn, paid Whathefav, the company of Zapatero’s daughters, 171,727 euros for communication work and, among other functions, the current creation of the website and management of social networks.
Zapatero’s role in this think tank is not minor. He was the Chairman of the Advisory Council. And he has been paid since its creation, in 2022, 490,780 euros, according to the order.
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