Spain orders the extradition to the United States of the former head of Chavismo intelligence in Venezuela

The Spanish justice system told Interpol on Tuesday to execute “immediately” the extradition to the United States of the former head of Venezuelan military intelligence Hugo “Pollo” Carvajalonce he exhausted the resources to avoid it.

This occurs after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rejected last Thursday a last resort by Carvajal, known in his country as “El Pollo”, to avoid this extradition that could cost him years in prison, for the charges against him. against which include drug trafficking. It also matters the information that the former agent can providethe analysts say.

Carvajal denounced at the time that Chavismo illegally financed political movements around the world “for at least 15 years.”. It included the governments of Néstor Kirchner in Argentina, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, Ollanta Humala in Peru or Podemos in Spain. He did not provide evidence.

With the judicial decision, the long judicial battle that Carvajal waged in Spain seemed to have come to an end. to avoid being handed over to American justicesince he was arrested in the Spanish capital in April 2019. In these efforts, he was even a fugitive for more than twenty months since his shipment to the US was initially approved.

The escape

In his flight, the 63-year-old retired general underwent cosmetic surgery, wore false mustaches and wigs and changed addresses every three months, according to police, who He arrested him again in Madrid in September 2021.

For many years he figured heavily in the Chavista regime until he turned around and joined the opposition to President Nicolás Maduro in 2019Carvajal is accused by the United States of having belonged to a cartel along with other high-ranking Venezuelan officials who trafficked drugs with the former Colombian guerrilla FARC.

A New York court accused him in 2011 of having coordinated the shipment of 5.6 tons of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006, who later arrived in the United States, facts for which he could be sentenced to up to life imprisonment.

Carvajal, who fled Venezuela by sea after he went over to the opposition of Nicolás Maduro, Chávez’s dolphin, in February 2019, remained active on social networks until months ago, where he always denied the accusations against him.

In his opinion, his persecution has a political intention, since other people before him were taken to the United States “to point fingers at members of the Venezuelan government in exchange for procedural benefits,” he said in a public letter in September 2021.

The National Court indicated in its statement that it requested to inform the United States Embassy in Spain and the director of the prison where the defendant is incarcerated of its decision, in order to activate the extradition.

The National Court had already determined last year that the extradition of Carvajal to the United States “it was final” and that it only remained to wait for the decision of the ECtHR.

Carvajal argued before the ECtHR that the US courts could sentence him to life imprisonment without the possibility of appeal, something that could be considered “inhuman treatment” under the European Convention on Human Rights.

But the ECtHR considered that Carvajal will be judged by a guarantee system, You can get out of a heavy sentence by pleading guilty or reaching an agreement with the US courts to reduce your sentence, and if you are ultimately sentenced to life in prison, you will always have the possibility to appeal, so your appeal was denied. .

Source: AFP, AP and EFE

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