Jeremy Siegel: This is GBH's Morning Edition. In 2016, Venezuela was in economic turmoil. President Nicolás Maduro had recently taken office after the death of Hugo Chávez, and amid a mounting crisis, his government announced a new initiative billed as providing high-quality and essential food to people at risk of starvation. But a new documentary produced by Frontline sheds light on a shadowy corruption scandal spanning from Venezuela to the United States, revealing that this program in Venezuela was not at all what the government claimed it would be, and how the reporters covering it became targets of Maduro. Joining me now is journalist Roberto Deniz of the Venezuelan independent news site Armando.Info. He's the subject of the new film called "A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro's Venezuela." Roberto, good morning. Thanks for joining us.

Roberto Deniz: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Siegel: So take me back to 2016.

Deniz: Venezuela was leaving a tremendous economic and social crisis, and the government at that moment decided to create a kind of social program to help poor people in Venezuela and to provide food for people in Venezuela. But the problem that we have uncovered with our investigation that now is in our documentary is that this was not a social aid from the Venezuelan government to the people. The real thing behind all of this was a business, a business belonging to a Colombian entrepreneur very close to Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president. And not only that, also the main problem that was behind the social program was that they decided to import, to buy food in different countries, especially in Mexico, and send those products to Venezuela. But it was very poor quality food for the poor people in Venezuela.

Siegel: This program was billed as providing high-quality food, but it was not high-quality food; and it was benefiting people living in other countries. Tell me more about what you learned in your reporting and your investigation.

Deniz: We saw that the Venezuelan government decided to send money to different entrepreneurs very close to the Venezuelan government. But these entrepreneurs, like Alex Saab, that maybe was the main entrepreneur behind the program, they bought food that was not the quality that they said. Even worse: We demonstrate that in the case of the powdered milk that we were selling in these boxes to the poor people in Venezuela. We saw that it was a very, very bad quality product because the product was very high in carbohydrates, very high in salt, but very low in calcium and very low in protein.

Siegel: This film, "A Dangerous Assignment," doesn't just illustrate your reporting surrounding the scandal, but also tracks the story of how you and your colleagues were attacked by Maduro's government as a result of your reporting. What was your experience in the aftermath of your investigation?

Deniz: I started to investigate this case and all of the story in 2016, and just a year after it, at the end of 2017, I was sued this Colombian guy, beef entrepreneur, that was benefiting off this social program of Nicolas Maduro. And in 2018, I had to flee Venezuela, I had to get out of Venezuela. And I continued the investigation, living abroad, living in Bogotá, in Colombia. And right now I can't go back to Venezuela because of this investigation, this and other investigations related to our job in Armando.info. And so as you said, this is the cost, this is the risk that we have to face when we decide to do this kind of job in a country like Venezuela right now.

Siegel: Do you have any confidence that things will change in your country and you'll ever be able to go back home?

Deniz: I hope that Venezuela can change, and Venezuela maybe, you know, can fix all the problem that they have. If that happens, I hope to come back in Venezuela. But right now, I'm not sure that that is going to happen.

Siegel: Roberto Deniz is a reporter for the Venezuelan independent news site Armando.Info. He's featured in the new FRONTLINE documentary, "A Dangerous Assignment," which airs tonight on GBH. This is GBH News.

In 2016, Venezuela was in economic turmoil.

President Nicolás Maduro had recently taken office after the death of Hugo Chávez, and amid a mounting crisis, his government announced a new initiative billed as providing high-quality and essential food to people at risk of starvation.

A new documentary produced by FRONTLINE “A Dangerous Assignment: Uncovering Corruption in Maduro's Venezuela,” sheds light on a shadowy corruption scandal spanning from Venezuela to the United States, revealing that this program in Venezuela was not at all what the government claimed it would be, and how the reporters covering it became targets of Maduro.

“Venezuela was leaving a tremendous economic and social crisis, and the government at that moment decided to create a kind of social program to help poor people in Venezuela and to provide food for people in Venezuela,” journalist Roberto Deniz of the Venezuelan independent news site Armando.Info, told GBH’s Morning Edition co-host Jeremy Siegel. “But the problem that we have uncovered with our investigation that now is in our documentary is that this was not a social aid from the Venezuelan government to the people.”

The program, Deniz said, was a way to funnel business to entrepreneurs close to the president. And the food was often of poor quality and low nutritional value, he said.

“We saw that the Venezuelan government decided to send money to different entrepreneurs very close to the Venezuelan government,” he said, like entrepreneurs Alex Saab. “Even worse: We demonstrate that in the case of the powdered milk that we were selling in these boxes to the poor people in Venezuela. We saw that it was a very, very bad quality product because the product was very high in carbohydrates, very high in salt, but very low in calcium and very low in protein.”

Deniz himself had to face investigations and ultimately fled Venezuela because of backlash from the powerful people he reported on, he said.

“In 2018, I had to flee Venezuela,” he said. “And I continued the investigation, living abroad, living in Bogota, in Colombia. … And so as you said, this is the cost, this is the risk that we have to face when we decide to do this kind of job in a country like Venezuela right now.”

He hopes to one day be able to return.

“I hope that Venezuela can change,” he said. “If that happens, I hope to come back in Venezuela. But right now, I'm not sure that that is going to happen.”