Venezuela’s former head of intelligence awaits extradition from Madrid to U.S. on drug trafficking charges

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Captured on Thursday (9) in Madrid after almost two years on the run, former Venezuelan intelligence chief Hugo “el Pollo” Carvajal is now in prison, awaiting extradition to the United States, where he is wanted for alleged drug trafficking.

Head of the Venezuelan intelligence services under the presidency of late Hugo Chavez, Carvajal “must go directly to prison to be transferred to the United States,” said a spokesman of the Audiencia Nacional, the Madrid court in charge of extraditions.

The court gave the final go-ahead for his extradition in November 2019, but when police reached his Madrid home to arrest him, he was nowhere to be found.

Since then, “el Pollo” had been at large, until Thursday night, when the 61-year-old retired general was captured in the Spanish capital. In a video posted by the National Police on Twitter, Carvajal is seen handcuffed alongside several agents protected by helmets and bulletproof vests in the living room of a house.

To evade authorities, Carvajal changed his address every three months, according to a police statement. He would disguise himself with “moustaches, beards and false wigs” and take photos of himself to be used in forged passports. He also underwent “several cosmetic surgery operations to change his appearance,” the statement said. “He lived completely cloistered, never going out on the street at any time, in fear,” and only dared to look out “on the terrace of the house, but strictly at night and in disguise,” it said.

At the time of his arrest, “a sharp knife he was carrying was confiscated,” the police added, saying that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) cooperated closely in his capture.

Extradition “should not take long,” the Audiencia Nacional spokesman said.

However, Carvajal’s attorney, María Dolores de Argüelles, said that his extradition would not be imminent, as her client’s request for asylum in Spain and an appeal to the Supreme Court against the Spanish government’s approval of his extradition must first be settled.

THE CARTEL OF THE SUNS

Once a leading figure in Chavismo, Carvajal was repudiated by the government of Nicolás Maduro after having publicly supported opposition leader Juan Guaidó, when the latter proclaimed himself president of Venezuela in February 2019.

He then left by boat to the Dominican Republic and later flew to Spain, where he was arrested in April 2019.

“El Pollo” is wanted by the United States for allegedly engaging in drug trafficking activities with Colombia’s former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. A New York court in 2011 indicted Carvajal for coordinating the shipment of 5.6 tons of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006, which later reached the United States. He could be sentenced to up to life in prison.

According to an affidavit by a DEA agent, Carvajal was part of an alleged drug trafficking organization called the Cártel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns). It was allegedly run by high-ranking Chavista officials, including Chávez himself, who died in 2013 after 14 years in power, and Diosdado Cabello, considered Chavismo’s number two. Carvajal was said to have been in charge of protecting the drugs.

A “BIG LIE”

The Venezuelan general has always denied the accusations, even in statements he posted on his social networks while on the run. “For over a decade, the big lie with which the U.S. persecutes me was fabricated,” Carvajal wrote on Twitter just a week before his arrest, on September 2. “I have always trusted that the truth will prevail,” he added.

Carvajal claims his persecution is politically motivated, stating that others before him were brought to the United States “to expose members of the Venezuelan government in exchange for judicial benefits.”

In September 2019, the Audiencia Nacional rejected the extradition after perceiving “political motivation” and released Carvajal, but later reversed its decision in response to an appeal by the U.S. authorities and authorized his extradition.