Venezuela-born Gustavo Alfredo Cisneros Rendiles died at the end of December in New York City at the age of 78 (1945-2023).
A visionary leader, he served as the Board of Directors’ president of the Cisneros Group since 1970, before passing the baton to his daughter Adriana in 2013. The Group, born as Venevision, was co-founded by his father Diego, a Cuban immigrant to Venezuela.
In addition to television broadcasting, Cisneros expanded into production (with shows that were successfully exported internationally), beauty pageants, satellite TV, and co-founded Univision in the U.S.
A friend of the political elite worldwide, Cisneros’ Venezuelan interests suffered under the presidency of Hugo Chávez and his successor, strongman Nicolás Maduro.
I first met Gustavo in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1983, during a visit to both Venevision and competing network RCTV. Subsequently, I returned to visit Venevision as a guest of his nephew Carlos Enrique Cisneros (the late son of Gustavo’s brother), and met with Gustavo regularly at international television events, such as the International Emmy Awards (pictured). (By Dom Serafini)
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