In the discreet and official Caracas, where dealings with the State are whispered in windowless offices, Rosa Gisela Olivis Peña de Gray has managed to build a business network that extends beyond Venezuelan borders. From her NGO to her web of companies registered in Panama, and real estate operations in Madrid, her name is linked to a constellation of interests revolving around chavista power, particularly in the military sector.
Married to Australian businessman Clifford Ross Gray, Olivis not only holds the title of president of the Huellas de Bondad Foundation—a supposedly social organization—but she also serves as the director of at least three Panamanian companies: Latimex Corporation SA, JM Mercantil Supply Inc., and Corporation Visloy SA. Additionally, she is the founder and shareholder of Corporación Graysam C.A., a contractor authorized by Nicolás Maduro’s government to import and distribute uniforms, industrial clothing, and machinery, especially for defense agencies.
The expansion of her empire follows a pattern that is almost surgically precise in similar chavista cases: mirror companies, state clients, family webs, and real estate acquisitions. In 2014, Olivis purchased a luxury penthouse in the exclusive Salamanca neighborhood of Madrid for 455,000 euros, through a bank account in Miami. She wasn’t the only one: other partners from the same group acquired properties in the same building through opaque structures based in tax havens like Barbados and Panama.
However, what sets Olivis’s case apart is not just her role as a businesswoman. Her name is connected to a tight-knit group of partners who have maintained cross-business ties, shared tax addresses, lawyers, and, above all, contracts with Venezuelan public agencies. This network features names like Yanori Bernal Vargas, Ambar Yohana Quiroga Mata, Roda Saab Ganam, and Félix Ramón Hernández, all linked to companies such as Representaciones Felther, Lanzallamas 12 RL, Inversiones Villaber, Venservice, and the already mentioned Graysam.
The group’s companies have been regular suppliers to institutions like the Ince Militar, the IPSFA, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, official municipalities, Bolipuertos, and even the Misión Madres del Barrio Foundation. It’s a well-oiled ecosystem that has allowed them to access multimillion-dollar contracts under direct assignment schemes or preferential tenders, often through their foreign subsidiaries.
Rosa Olivis’s story is also intertwined with that of Samantha Gray Quintero, a former candidate for mayor of Chacao and a fleeting figure in Venezuelan politics. In an interview given in 2008, Gray acknowledged that it was Olivis who facilitated her relationship with Clifford Gray, the Australian businessman and current husband of Rosa. Since then, both women have been more than in-law; they’ve been partners in at least four companies. Gray has been described by Olivis as a daughter, a friend, and a confidante.
The business group surrounding Olivis Peña de Gray has also been implicated in public corruption allegations and graver abuses. Some sources indicate she is a partner of Major General Giuseppe Yoffreda Yorio—former director of Corpovex—in alleged operations of recruitment and exploitation of young people for sexual purposes, which reportedly took place in high schools and universities across the country. Although these accusations have not been judicialized so far, they form part of an informal report leaked from chavista circles and reported by opposition digital media.
Moreover, they are also attributed with the covert ownership of the airline Turpial Airlines, which allegedly took advantage of the exit of international airlines from the country to establish a network of triangulated flights through third countries like Curacao, Panama, or Barbados, generating substantial profits for businessmen linked to the regime.
With Venezuelan nationality, access to foreign currencies, and a corporate network spanning at least three countries, Rosa Gisela Olivis Peña de Gray represents a paradigmatic case of the new Bolivarian entrepreneurship: one that, away from the spotlight, turns proximity to power into a tool for accumulation and protection. Always in the background, but always at the center of the business.