HE KNOWS EVERYTHING: Former head of Venezuelan intelligence and key member of the São Paulo Forum, Carvajal is extradited to the United States, putting leftist hegemony in Latin America at risk
By @tupireport
The Strasbourg court has signaled Spain to extradite to the United States, which wants to prosecute him for drug trafficking, the former head of Venezuelan counterintelligence during the presidency of Hugo Chávez, Hugo Armando Carvajal , known as El Pollo Carvajal.
The European judges, who had asked Spain not to carry out this extradition while examining Carvajal's complaint, rejected the arguments that the former Venezuelan general presented in his complaint, in which he pointed out that in the United States he risks being imposed a life sentence without the possibility of ever obtaining parole.
However, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) "is convinced" that he will be tried in "a judicial system that respects the pre-eminence of the law and the principles of a fair trial in which he will have full opportunity to organize his defense with a lawyer."
On the question of the risk of an effective life sentence, without the possibility of leaving prison for the rest of his life, he insists that nothing is set in stone because, depending on various circumstances, Pollo Carvajal does not have to end up with such a sentence.
If found guilty, mitigating circumstances could be considered and a first court decision could eventually be appealed. The ECtHR notes that maximum sentences "are very unusual" in federal proceedings in the United States.
It also recalls that, to clarify matters, the U.S. embassy in Spain had sent a note verbale in November 2021 in which it explained that in the event that he was sentenced to incompressible life imprisonment, he would not only have the possibility of an appeal, but also the possibility of asking for a pardon or to have his sentence commuted to a lighter sentence.
The former Venezuelan counter-espionage chief had denounced Spain in Strasbourg after his appeal for amparo before the Constitutional Court failed in October 2021, alleging that if he was sent to the United States he would be exposed to a violation of the article of the European Convention on Human Rights that prohibits the violation of inhuman and degrading treatment.
The case law of the ECtHR on this article has established the principle that in the case of life imprisonment and in order not to violate this right, the country that applies it must consider the possibility of a reduction of the effective sentence, taking into account significant changes in the prisoner's life, such as progress in his rehabilitation that make it illegitimate to keep him behind bars.
Carvajal, who is being held in the prison of Estremera (Madrid province), arrived in Spain in March 2019 under a false identity and was arrested under an Interpol search warrant, as he had been wanted by the United States for years as responsible for acts of narcoterrorism and the introduction of cocaine into its territory.
Prior to that, he had already been arrested in July 2014 in Aruba, a Netherlands territory in the Caribbean where he was a Venezuelan consul, on the same US arrest warrant. He was then able to evade extradition because of his diplomatic status, but was expelled.
In 2019, when he was a member of the Venezuelan National Assembly, he was expelled from his country's army and accused of treason for having recognized Juan Guaidó, an opposition leader to the regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro, as president.
When he is extradited to the US, he will be obliged to denounce the entire Latin American narco-state scheme in order to reduce his sentence and not rot in a prison in Guantanamo.
Former head of Chavista military intelligence says Venezuela financed Lula
The former head of Venezuela's Secret Service, General Hugo Armando Carvajal, known as "El Pollo" Carvajal, sent a seven-page letter to Spanish judge Manuel García-Castellón in which he recounts details of a scheme to finance left-wing parties in Latin America and Europe by the governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. Among the beneficiaries would be former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
"The Venezuelan government has been illegally funding left-wing political movements around the world for at least 15 years, including financing the creation of the Spanish political party Podemos," Carvajal says. "While I was director of Military Intelligence and Counterintelligence of Venezuela, I received many reports that showed that this international financing was happening."
Carvajal cites as "concrete" examples of beneficiaries of the financing scheme: former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; Néstor Kirchner in Argentina; Evo Morales in Bolivia; Fernando Lugo in Paraguay; Ollanta Humala in Peru; Zelaya in Honduras; Gustavo Petro in Colombia; the Five Star Movement in Italy; and the Podemos party in Spain.
In the document addressed to the Spanish courts, he details how money was sent to Spain during the creation of the left-wing Podemos party. According to Carvajal, the money was transported to Europe through diplomatic pouches, an official system of correspondence between governments and the diplomatic corps abroad that does not allow for violation.
In the document addressed to the Spanish courts, he details how money was sent to Spain during the creation of the left-wing Podemos party. According to Carvajal, the money was transported to Europe through diplomatic pouches, an official system of correspondence between governments and the diplomatic corps abroad that does not allow for violation. In addition, he also reported the existence of specific containers for this type of shipment, most of which were disguised with a corporate logo stamped on them.
Amaro would be responsible for sending the money to the country's embassy in Spain via diplomatic pouches. Once in Spain, the money was received by Ramón Gordils, Venezuela's deputy minister for economic cooperation and president of Bancoex de Comercio Exterior, and delivered to Juan Carlos Monedero, one of the founders of Podemos.
Carvajal reports in the letter that the last time he knew of this type of operation was on July 7, 2017, when Ramón Gordils returned to Caracas on an Iberia flight. He claims to have proof of the existence of the scheme to finance left-wing parties by the Venezuelan government.
"I have informants who have witnessed different stages of this network. I asked my lawyers to contact them while I was in prison to ask if they would be willing to attest to my testimony, and some said yes about agreeing to testify before a judge."
Hugo Carvajal, El Pollo, is a bomb that will change everything when it explodes
For those who do not believe in the possibility of facts overcoming the fictional narratives imagined by TV writers, it is demonstrated in some recent cases, which exploded in Spain and splashed in several other countries. Look for example, on the Internet, what writes the Spanish journalist Cristina Segui, very well-informed and committed to the issue. There is no point in looking in the Brazilian press, which is running away from the subject because they are bought by the propaganda machine.
In September 2021, Venezuelan Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, alias EL Pollo (The Chicken), was arrested in Spain after three years on the run. Carvajal had already been arrested in Spain in April 2019 at the request of the United States, which had requested his extradition - he was the main accused of drug trafficking from South America to the US. A day after the extradition was approved, Carvajal managed to escape, which can only have happened with the help of powerful people in Spain.
But the US seems to have a strong interest in having him on its territory to combat the trafficking that plagues it. They are the world's largest consumer of cocaine, the main item on El Pollo's export list for seven years to that country. They were so interested that they offered 10 million dollars for a simple piece of information that would lead to his arrest. And that's what happened: a lucky neighbor of the apartment where El Pollo was hiding in Madrid seems to have taken the prize.
Look back at Carvajal's career:
A Venezuelan army general, Hugo Chávez's right-hand man, he headed the country's espionage from 2004 to 2011, while trafficking drugs on a large scale - in the service of "Bolivarianism". Imagine his experience, working for seven years alongside the Cuban secret service and the Colombian Farc narcos.
The scheme set up and headed by Carvajal, together with agents (often in government) from Cuba, Colombia and Bolivia, supplied (and possibly still supplies) the American drug market. Even submarines were (or are) used in these transfers, as we sometimes see in the news. Hence the huge US interest in interrogating Carvajal - and of course convicting him of his crimes.
Trafficking to the US was part of a political war (Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez wanted to weaken the character of American youth, but that is a subject for another article) and an economic one (because it provided foreign exchange to a miserable Cuba, without the guarantees that the USSR gave before the fall of the Berlin Wall). And, of course, it enriched many people of the communist ideology in Latin America.
Carvajal had disgraced himself in Venezuela by getting close to the oppositionist Juan Guaidó, who was eventually defeated by Nicolás Maduro, and had to flee to Spain. With his arrest begins another story, full of problematic situations.
When Carvajal was arrested again and his deportation was imminent, his lawyers requested asylum for him in Spain, which was initially denied. It seemed that his extradition would be approved at any moment. But El Pollo is not an amateur, and he did not want to face American justice, which is much tougher than Spain's. He immediately made some statements that caused repercussions. He immediately made some statements that had repercussions not only in Spain, but in many parts of the world. He proposed an agreement with the Spanish justice system, but without the government's participation, because he had information that compromised him and was of interest to the justice system.
El Pollo said that the scheme he headed in Marxist Venezuela was responsible for illegal funding of Spanish politicians, and was even responsible for the creation of a party (Podemos, which is part of the government). He cited former Prime Minister José Rodriguez Zapatero and revealed that he owns a gold mine in Venezuela, and said that former Spanish Supreme Court judge Baltasar Garzón was hired by the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA for almost nine million euros, in a deal whose purpose is unclear. And he said that he also fraudulently financed Latin American leaders such as Cristina Kirchner, Lula da Silva, Evo Morales, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo and Ecuador's Rafael Correa, all elected presidents of their countries.
The Venezuelan gave details and promised documents if granted Spanish asylum. He also testified to Italian prosecutors about funding the far-left 5 Star Movement party using Venezuelan funds he managed. He asked Italy for asylum: it was all worth it to avoid going to the US.
Ell Pollo and political romanticism against Pinochet's persona: Baltasar Garzón
Baltasar Garzón was a judge on Spain's Supreme Criminal Court and in 1998 obtained the arrest of General Augusto Pinochet, who was in England on charges of human rights violations. He became world famous for it. Shortly afterwards, in 2012, he was expelled from the Court. He did not act according to the law, but according to his subjectivities. In addition, he did not explain well a considerable sum of money received from Banco Santander to finance some courses he administered at New York University.
With that, Garzón was simply abandoned by his homeland, to the chagrin of the entire international left, which still holds him up as a hero. But he made good use of his fame and his identification with the left. Invited by Cristina Kirchner, he went to work in the Argentine government, very well paid, by the way. He stayed there until 2016, the end of Cristina's government.
Garzón also served in the Marxist government of Rafael Correa in Ecuador between 2012 and 2014. He returned to Spain and opened a thriving law firm. And as El Pollo reported, Garzón's law firm, Ilocad, in 2016 was hired by the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA for almost nine million euros, without any clear purpose.
There is also another romance and political situation: Dolores Delgado García, who chairs the State Attorney General's Office of Spain, which is the Attorney General's Office there.
But Garzón's office has several clients with cases before the Spanish courts - including other extradition cases - where the work of the body headed by Dolores is fundamental, which undoubtedly generates a lot of comment. Obviously, she acted in opposition to the extradition of El Pollo.
Baltasar Garzón is not Carvajal's lawyer, however, he does not hide his Marxism, he has links with the entire global left-wing summit. It is worth remembering that he once visited Lula when he was in prison for corruption. It seems, however, that Carvajal's revelation of Garzón's financial links with Venezuela has made rapprochement difficult and inhibited the political figure's return at key meetings. Confirmed in secret calls to Tupi Report, members of the Puebla Group said that Lula's first rally of the 2022 election period in Rio de Janeiro would be attended by Garzón, who avoided showing up at the start of the first denunciations.
It is worth remembering that in 2022, it was seen in the newspapers about news of Lula's trip to Spain in November 2021, right after the arrest of El Pollo and his statements involving the leftist in the narco-financial scheme. You may have noticed that Lula made a point of meeting with Zapatero, another name that has become involved in the issue.
See more
NARCO STATE: How drug trafficking and politics form the basis of the Bolivarian revolution
Rapes, beatings and shocks: report reveals the brutal tortures of the Maduro government
EXCLUSIVE: Criminal faction PCC recruits Venezuelans to expand 'army' in Roraima and abroad
WHO CREATED THE CIVIL WAR IN RIO DE JANEIRO?
Our work is independent and aimed at showing the reality of macro-politics in Latin America.
