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This Venezuelan Mogul Met Pence. Is He Trying To Broker An Exit Strategy For Maduro?

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Globovisión president Raúl Gorrín shakes hands with Vice President Mike Pence. ";s

A Venezuelan millionaire declared persona non grata by the City of Miami for his alleged ties to the Maduro regime is trying to broker an exit strategy with the Trump administration for his beleaguered government, according to various Washington sources.

Raúl Gorrín, criticized for the controversial purchase in 2013 of the then pro-opposition news channel Globovisión, has paid Ballard Partners — the firm of President Donald Trump’s former Florida lobbyist — $450,000 since June through the U.S. subsidiary of the Venezuelan TV network, ostensibly to help the company expand into U.S. markets.

But Gorrín’s real ambitions appear to extend far beyond the TV network. According to three sources familiar with his lobbying efforts in Washington — all of whom declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter — the media mogul is trying to establish himself as a broker between Caracas and the Trump administration, peddling the idea that President Nicolás Maduro and other key government leaders might be willing to negotiate a transition in Venezuela in exchange for amnesty.

Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald

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