Bovo campaign fires fundraiser who took Venezuelan oil cash from former congressman
Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban “Steve” Bovo has fired the fundraiser for his county mayoral campaign after the Miami Herald reported that she was paid millions from the proceeds of a massive contract between a former Miami congressman and a subsidiary of a state-run Venezuelan oil company.
Bovo confirmed Thursday in a statement that he’d fired Esther Nuhfer’s Communication Solutions. The commissioner, whose father fought in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, said he could not marry Nuhfer’s receipt of money originating from the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro with his resolve to fight against “tyrannical regimes” in Latin America.
“It is because of my longstanding commitment that I am disappointed by what I’ve read and learned in the latest news account regarding Esther Nuhfer,” said Bovo. “Consequently, Communications [sic] Solutions, Inc. is terminated effective immediately as my fundraising consultant. Any sort of financial engagement with the source of so much pain for so many is completely unacceptable and I condemn it.”
Nuhfer, a veteran fundraiser who is regularly paid by Miami politicians to raise campaign cash, did not respond to requests for comment.
Bovo’s decision to fire Nuhfer follows a Miami Herald report that Communication Solutions received $3.5 million in payments in 2017 from Interamerican Consulting, a company owned by former Miami congressman David Rivera. Nuhfer is a longtime Rivera ally and consultant to his past political campaigns.
Sources told the Herald that the money came from the proceeds of a $50 million contract between Rivera’s company and a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-run Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., or PDVSA.
Sources said the company then transferred close to $2 million to Nuhfer’s personal bank account.
Campaign filings show two Bovo political committees, Transportation Solutions for Miami-Dade and A Better Miami-Dade, paid Nuhfer’s Communication Solutions $145,000 since the start of 2018. Professional fundraisers typically get paid through commissions, retaining a share of the donations they secure. Bovo has raised more than $1.5 million for his 2020 campaign.
Rivera’s work on behalf of PDVSA came to light this month when a U.S. subsidiary of the company sued him in federal court in New York, alleging that he took a $15 million down payment on a three-month, $50 million contract and failed to produce the promised work. The firm said it hired Rivera to help improve its image in America as the energy firm’s finances and reputation collapsed along with Venezuela’s economy.
Rivera previously told the Herald that he used the proceeds from the contract to fund the Venezuelan opposition movement, and that President Donald Trump’s administration was aware of his efforts. The Trump administration has denied this.
Bovo is one of seven candidates running in the August election to succeed Carlos Gimenez as the strong mayor of Miami-Dade County. Bovo said Thursday that his record in opposition of totalitarian regimes in the Western Hemisphere is unblemished.
“My family history and my personal record against communism, dictatorships and human rights violations are well established,” he said. “I am proud of my decades long record of battling against these tyrannical regimes on behalf of the Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan people. I have consistently presented resolutions or ordinances that have reflected the sentiment of the community I represent, including victims that fled tyranny, oppression, and in many instances suffered the murder of loved ones.”
This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 3:06 PM.
