The ORICAO Team
The ORICAO Team
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Our current team in Oricao is a blend of land men, a multidisciplinary network of collaborating scientists, and technical advisors who gather and analyze data, study the plants, and share advice on how we can improve the plantation every day.
The core team is the production team at the Hacienda, led by Romulo Guardia, the majority owner, with a background in TV production and management at Discovery Networks and RCTV—and Alejandro Galavìs, co-owner and co-founder of Cacao de Oricao, who holds a master's degree in marketing and finance and has a professional background with AT&T and Empresas Polar.
As special advisors, we have the team from Venezolana de Avalúos (VASA), directed by Engineer Richard Clark and Architect Jaime Esparza. Our legal counselor is Dr. Eduardo Wallis Brandt, a professional with extensive experience in environmental operations and conservation legislation.
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Meet the team
Meet the team
In the field, the team is commanded by Flavio Benitez, who has been in charge of Hacienda La Florida for 35 years, with prior experience at the Venezuelan Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and the National Agrarian Institute (IAN).
Alongside Flavio and ourselves is a team made up of day laborers and local community members, with whom we have been able to take on the task of recovering Oricao's cacao—a crop and a history that dates back to the colonial era but had been abandoned since 1945.
Flavio Benitez
Our advisors in the development and production of Oricao cacao have been, and continue to be, top-tier professionals and experts in Venezuelan Criollo cacao.
We remember with special fondness our first advisor, Alvaro Gómez, technical director of Chocolates Franceschi, who passed away during the pandemic and with whom we discovered the original plant of our century-old strain in the jungle.
We also have the guidance of Ernesto Uranga from Chocolate Santa Clara, who accompanied us from the very beginning and with whom we shared the launch of our Oricao Criollo cacao strain. Alongside him, we have the advice of Enrique Egaña and Silvino Reyes, connoisseurs of coffee and cacao genetics, as well as the wise counsel of Francisco Betancourt from Chocolates El Rey.
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