Jeffrey Epstein’s reach extended far beyond New York, Palm Beach, and the familiar circles of American finance and politics. Newly surfaced records show him probing for influence and opportunity across Latin America and the Caribbean, including Venezuela and Cuba, where he appeared to position himself as a connector for businessmen, political insiders, and power brokers operating in difficult, sensitive, or sanctions-adjacent environments. One major thread involves Epstein advising DP World’s Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem after Hugo Chávez nationalized Venezuelan ports, with Epstein suggesting Cuba as a possible backchannel route into Caracas. Another involves Venezuelan businessman Francisco D’Agostino and discussions about potential oil opportunities connected to PDVSA and the Orinoco River oil fields. D’Agostino says the proposed Venezuela trip never happened and no deal came together, but the records still show Epstein attempting to place himself near the intersection of energy, politics, and elite access.

The Cuba material follows the same pattern. Epstein traveled there in 2003 with Ghislaine Maxwell and former Colombian president Andrés Pastrana, and Maxwell later claimed they met Fidel Castro, though there is no clear evidence that Epstein conducted business or political negotiations with Castro. Years later, Epstein funded a Cuban state-backed neuroscience conference in Havana through his connection to researcher Gino Yu, fitting his larger pattern of using science, academia, and intellectual circles as a legitimacy machine. The larger takeaway is not that every one of Epstein’s approaches produced a successful deal; many appear to have stalled or gone nowhere. The real significance is that a convicted sex offender with a history of elite protection was still moving through circles connected to foreign governments, oil wealth, port infrastructure, sanctioned economies, and high-level intermediaries, raising the same old question: who kept allowing this man access to rooms where he clearly did not belong?

to contact me:

bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

source:

How Epstein explored Venezuelan deals, funded Cuban research | Miami Herald