Marco Rubio to testify secretly about lobbying for Venezuela
The federal trial of a former Miami congressman accused of secretly lobbying for Venezuela’s Government during the first Trump administration begins Monday, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio set to testify over his interactions with his old friend.
Prosecutors allege David Rivera was a hired gun for former President Nicolas Maduro, leveraging Republican connections from his time in Congress to push the White House to abandon its hard line on Venezuela’s socialist Government.
Rivera, who at one time had been Rubio’s roommate in Florida, allegedly persuaded then Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez — now Venezuela’s acting president - to award him a $50 million lobbying contract to be paid by state oil company PDVSA.
As part of the alleged foreign influence campaign, prosecutors say Rivera was aided by Texas Republican Rep. Pete Sessions and a convicted Cali cartel associate as he sought meetings with the White House and Exxon Mobil on Maduro’s behalf.
The trial offers a rare glimpse into the often-unseemly role Miami - long a haven for exiles, corruption and anti-communist crusaders — plays in shaping US policy in Latin America. As such, it is perhaps fitting that Rubio, Miami’s most prominent politician, is set to take the stand on Tuesday about his meetings with Rivera while the former congressman was allegedly helping Maduro mount a charm offensive in Washington.
Also likely to face scrutiny is Rodriguez, who relied on Rivera to set up meetings in New York, Caracas, Washington and Dallas in a bid to build US support for normalizing relations with Venezuela — an effort that failed at the time but now appears within reach, albeit on unequal terms, following Maduro’s ouster and the ascent of his more pragmatic aide.
Indictment details alleged covert lobbying and money-laundering scheme. An 11-count indictment, unsealed in 2022, charges Rivera and an associate with money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent.
Prosecutors allege that to hide their work, Rivera set up an encrypted chat group called MIA - for Miami - with his main conduit to the Maduro Government: Venezuelan media tycoon Raul Gorrin, who was subsequently charged in the US with bribing top Venezuelan officials.
Members of the group used playful code words to discuss their activities: Maduro was the “bus driver,” Sessions “Sombrero,” and millions of dollars “melons,” according to prosecutors.
Rivera, 60, denies wrongdoing. His attorneys counter that his one-man firm, Interamerican Consulting, was hired by an American subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company - not PDVSA itself - and therefore did not need to register as a foreign agent.
His consulting work, they say, was focused on positioning Venezuelan-owned Citgo in the US energy industry and was wholly distinct from his peacemaking efforts, which involved working with Maduro’s opponents to usher in leadership less hostile to the US.
