MIAMI.– Former congressman David Rivera appears this Monday before a federal court in downtown Miami for the formal beginning of his corruption trial, a process that begins with initial arguments before Judge Melissa Damian after a week of jury selection.
The Department of Justice accuses the 60-year-old former politician of receiving a $50 million contract to improve the image of Nicolás Maduro’s regime and avoid US sanctions during 2017, without legally registering as a foreign agent.
The weight of the accusations
Together with political consultant Esther Nuhfer, Rivera faces eleven criminal charges. Prosecutors argue that the two orchestrated a conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States, launder money and violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
According to court documents, Rivera signed a consulting agreement in 2017 with the US subsidiary of the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.
Of the 50 million dollars agreed upon, the defendants managed to collect approximately 20 million.
Rivera maintains his total innocence. In his defense, the former legislator assures that his work was limited to business consulting for the company Citgo and that the investigation against him would be politically motivated.
Connection
The case garners national attention because of the list of witnesses. The current Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will go to court this Tuesday to give his testimony.
According to investigations, Rubio and Rivera forged a friendship in the 1990s and even shared a residence in Tallahassee when both represented South Florida in the state Congress.
The prosecution maintains that Rivera would have tried to capitalize on this direct access to influence the White House’s position towards Venezuela.
Judicial process
This trial occurs at a particular historical moment. The facts under scrutiny date back to Chavismo’s efforts to avoid the maximum pressure strategy imposed from Washington almost a decade ago.
Prosecutors point to Venezuelan official Delcy Rodríguez as the mastermind behind Rivera’s hiring.
Today, the panorama is radically different after the recent capture of Nicolás Maduro and the agreements to reestablish diplomatic relations between Washington and Caracas.
However, the Miami court will focus strictly on determining whether the former Republican congressman violated federal law to profit at the expense of American foreign policy.
