It’s still a mystery if In Delcy Rodríguez’s private agenda in New York, within the framework of the UN Assembly, there was a stop at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklynwhere former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro remains imprisoned.
What the EL TIEMPO Investigative Unit was able to establish is that Agents from the FBI and OFAC are asking about a series of businesses that Rodríguez – today an ally – would have known in her role as Minister of Petroleum of Venezuelaa position she held until last March, before becoming the interim president of that country.
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The cousin and the Catalan
Verónica Alcocer, Eva Ferrer, Manel Grau and Xavier Vendrell. Photo:Private file
The interest, however, is not in Caracas, but in Bogotá.
In fact, a dossier that EL TIEMPO saw mentions people close to former first lady Verónica Alcocer, with interests in the gold and oil sectors and even in Monómeros, the Venezuelan fertilizer company based in Barranquilla.
In fact, in some quarters it is believed that This last matter is what keeps Nicolás Petro Burgos on the OFAC list, along with his father, former president Gustavo Petro, and his stepmother.
In that chapter, The dossier speaks of alleged emissaries from the House of Nariño who landed unofficially in Caracas to promote the purchase of Monómeros by Ecopetrol.
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Monomer Plant in Barranquilla. Photo:Monomers
“The interest was such that after Ricardo Roa took the business twice to the board of directors of the state company and it fell because Monómeros was still on the Ofac listit was proposed that Indumil buy it, in association with a private party,” said an informed source.
In that scenario they place the Sinceleja politician Mario Fernández Alcocer, cousin of Verónica Alcocer, and the Catalan Manel Grau. Regarding the latter, his interference in appointments and million-dollar contracts at Ecopetrol is already being investigated, supported by evidence revealed by the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPOincluding the audio in which a link appears with Diego Marín, ‘Papá Smurf’.
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Barinas, the ANM and the ANH
The response of the SAE to the request for information from the National Hydrocarbons Agency. Photo:Private file
“What we want to ask Saab is if he knew about the displacement of that unofficial delegation from Bogotá to balance the Monómeros business with an extra cost “And if two well-known Caracas businessmen, a diplomat and a politician from Sucre, where the former first lady was born, were acting as intermediaries,” said an informed source.
And he added that they also want to ask Saab—now that is collaborating with the United States justice system—how is it that the Colombian Danilo Romero and the Catalans Manel Grau and his brother Gregorio Grau They ended two Productive Participation (CPP) contracts in PDVSA to exploit oil in the Apure-Barinas basin.
The assignment was in 2025, when the Colombian Ministry of Mines was looking to acquire Monómeros for 300 million dollars.
The dossier also mentions last minute movements in which the Catalan and Fernández Alcocer would have participated to direct the control of more than 20 million barrels of Colombian crude oil per month, for royaltiesand a handful of mining titles from companies managed by the Special Assets Society (SAE).
The Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO accessed documents in which, in effect, The House of Nariño tried to ensure that the nearly 2 billion pesos in barrels of crude oil that some companies pay as royalties were no longer managed by Ecopetrol.
The business was that the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) will sign an agreement with the SAE so that companies in the hydrocarbon sector managed by the latter (through domain extinction processes) they will refine the barrels.
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The ANM’s response to the SAE on the status of mining titling. Photo:Private file
There was even a meeting at the Casa de Nariño, on July 26, 2026. Months ago, the National Mining Agency (ANM) requested information from the SAE on gold mining titles under its administration.
The dossier emphasizes that the main shareholder of the SAE is the Central de Inversiones SA (Cisa), where Grau had a seat on the board as a delegate of the Petro government from January 2023 until last August.
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The cousin speaks
Mario Fernández Alcocer, cousin of the first lady, Verónica Alcocer. Photo:CEET Photographer: Milton Díaz
Grau has not responded to any of the messages that EL TIEMPO left him to find out his version of these cases, including that of his influence on Ecopetrol.
The one who did answer was Mario Fernández Alcocer, cousin of the former first lady, who began by admitting that there must have been many meetings in which he coincided with Graubecause both are in Verónica Alcocer’s close circle.
But he flatly denied any participation in business with him, let alone trips to Caracas to talk about contracts or Monómeros.
“There is talk of the intervention of a politician from Sucre, but that is not me”said Fernández Alcocer.
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Day Vásquez is one of the witnesses against Nicolás Petro. Photo:Milton Diaz / El Tiempo
And he also denied having any interference in the ANM, although he admitted that he had known for years the person who served as its president during part of the Petro government: “I met Lina Franco when she was a liaison between that entity and Congress and I was a senator.”
Alcocer’s cousin also admitted knowing Andrés Gamero, who appears in a video with Franco touring emerald mines, as Petro’s advisor: “I know that he was close to Grau and that he presented himself as an advisor to the president, but we only crossed paths twice.”
Geologist Franco pointed out that she did not know about the Grau-Gamero nexus and also described the latter as Petro’s advisor. And by the way, he denied being a member of Mario Fernández Alcocer.
The Caracas businessmen denied having served as a bridge to negotiate Monómeros.
And Nicolás Petro said the same thing at the time when his ex-partner, Day Vásquez, published chats in which he talked about his interest in the company: “You don’t understand that investments have to be made. It’s for a large pod that we are going to handle. Or if not, find out what Monómeros is.”
But at the meeting his friend was named, the Sucre politician Rodrigo Ramírez, who denied being his quota.
Now, The FBI hopes that Álex Saab will provide information on some of these matters.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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