In Venezuelan and Spanish high society, the name María Beatriz Hernández, a young jewelry designer, made headlines overnight. She was the reason why the prominent banker Víctor Vargas, father of Margarita Vargas and father-in-law of Luis Alfonso de Borbón, decided to end his marriage of more than thirty years. His wife, Carmen Santaella, a member of a powerful Venezuelan banking family with Spanish roots and strict religious beliefs, had long refused to consent to a divorce. This standoff turned into one of the most sensational legal battles in Venezuela’s history.
The situation escalated to the point where Judge Anna Alejandra Morales had to set a legal precedent, ruling that a marriage could be dissolved even if one party refused to agree. Víctor and Carmen had three children together, including Margarita, who is married to Luis Alfonso. After the scandalous divorce, Víctor Vargas married María Beatriz. Rumor has it their relationship began as early as 2008, or even before, when the banker was already separated from his first wife. The new marriage produced two children: Víctor Simón in 2013 and María Guadalupe in 2015. María Beatriz herself left her career in design and for more than ten years has led the prestigious Center for Contemporary Art in Caracas, which was established with the support of her husband’s financial group.
For Margarita Vargas and her older sister Victoria, their parents’ divorce was a heavy blow, made worse by a previous family tragedy—the death of their 18-year-old brother Victor from a rare disease. During the five years of the divorce proceedings, their mother Carmen Santaella spent much of her time in Madrid, finding support from her daughter and son-in-law. Today, she divides her time between Madrid and Caracas. Despite past grievances, over time the family has—at least outwardly—learned to coexist in this new arrangement. A telling moment came in 2016, when both families attended the first communion of Luis Alfonso and Margarita’s eldest daughter in Madrid: both Carmen Santaella and Victor Vargas with his new wife and their young children were present.
In the summer, the extended family often gathers in the upscale Sotogrande area in the province of Cádiz, where Luis Alfonso and his father-in-law passionately play polo. The relationship between Margarita and her stepmother María Beatriz, who are nearly the same age, seems quite amicable, although in the beginning the banker’s daughter sided with her mother. Since his marriage, Luis Alfonso de Borbón has been involved in his father-in-law’s business. For decades, Victor Vargas has been regarded as one of the key figures in Venezuela’s financial world, even being called ‘the banker of Chavismo.’
However, in recent years, his empire, built around Banco Occidental de Descuento (BOD), began to collapse. Several of his banks, including those in Panama and Curaçao, were accused of fraudulent bankruptcy, putting the entire holding under threat. Vargas’s situation worsened after his brief arrest in 2016. Now he is forced to sell off assets in Venezuela and constantly fend off claims from creditors and financial regulators, casting a shadow over the family’s fortunes.
