That work, for which Rivera was to be paid $50 million, is the subject of a lawsuit by Maduro's opponents, who now run Citgo and other PDVSA operations in the U.S. He also knew a few of the jailed Citgo executives from his time as a consultant working for another U.S. Rivera said he decided to get involved in the prisoner swap because he believed GorrГn had played a positive behind the scenes role securing the release from jail of Venezuela's most prominent anti-governmental activist, Leopoldo LГіpez. government official told the AP the State Department вЂњis not in a position to comment on reports of deliberations of a prior administration.вЂќ RodrГguez and Prince didn't respond to requests for comment. These freelancers represented no one but themselves.вЂќ 'The move to detain and try Saab was an all-of-government interagency effort. special representative for Venezuela under Trump. Grenell and the others had absolutely no authority to offer that,' said Elliott Abrams, who served as the U.S.

вЂњThere was no way we were going to swap for Saab.

sanctions - was a trophy too valuable to give up before he was behind bars in the U.S. Moreover, his arrest was the result of a years-long effort by law enforcement that had been cheered on by foreign policy hawks and influential Venezuelan exiles in Florida for whom Saab - the architect of efforts to circumvent U.S. has recently carried out with other hostile governments, from Cuba to Iran, Saab hasn't yet been tried for his alleged crimes. The trip to Mexico City surprised some senior Trump officials, who learned about it from reporters and worried it could undermine efforts to undermine Maduro through sanctions and ongoing investigations into corruption. It's not clear how seriously the Trump administration considered Maduro's offer - if at all. In a subsequent call, Prince told GorrГn вЂњthat the Citgo 6 were simply not valuable enough to the Trump administration for a straight prisoner swap for Saab,вЂќ Rivera said. When he arrived to the Mexican capital, the meeting at The Westin hotel had already blown up over Grenell's insistence that any prisoner swap be accompanied with an exit plan for Maduro, Rivera said. Rivera said he was supposed to be present for the meeting as well, but got delayed while making a connection in Houston. In 2019, Prince traveled to Caracas to meet with RodrГguez's sister, Vice President Delcy RodrГguez, cementing his role as one of the few American interlocutors to the otherwise isolated Maduro government. He was joined by Maduro's government, which considers the previously low-profile Colombian-born businessman a diplomatic envoy and keeper of state secrets that, if revealed, would compromise Venezuela's national security.ДЄccording to Rivera, after several back-and-forth calls Prince arranged for him and Grenell to travel to Mexico City to meet with Jorge RodrГguez, a top aide to Maduro and now president of the pro-government congress. Saab had been arrested a few months earlier in Cape Verde en route to Iran and was fighting tooth and nail against extradition to the U.S. 'Both GorrГn in Spanish and me in English made it crystal clear to Prince repeatedly that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss freeing the Americans in exchange for Saab,' Rivera said. Rivera, a Republican who served a single term in Congress, said he was a translator in encrypted conference calls over Wickr, a messaging app, ahead of the meeting in which GorrГn explained to Prince that Maduro was willing to swap the Americans for Saab.

and Maduro before being indicted himself on charges of bribing top Maduro officials. In Rivera's telling, he was asked to get involved by Raul GorrГn, a Venezuelan businessman who had been trying to bridge differences between the U.S. ItвЂ™s also likely to add pressure on the Biden administration, which is already facing criticism for not doing enough to bring home Americans wrongfully detained abroad, to pursue a prisoner deal of its own with Maduro - something it has resisted until now.ДЄmong new details to emerge: Grenell was joined in Mexico City by Erik Prince, the founder of controversial security firm Blackwater and whose sister, Betsy DeVos, was TrumpвЂ™s education secretary. Rivera's account raises fresh questions about the nature and scope of the back-channel diplomacy. The AP also saw text messages from right after the meeting between some of the organizers - but not Grenell - in which follow-up steps for a deal to return the American prisoners is discussed. However, Venezuela's interest in negotiating for Saab was corroborated by another individual with knowledge of the proposal on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private diplomatic effort.

Corruption of champions weapons