Spain hands over former Venezuelan intelligence chief El Pollo Carvajal to the US

Spain has extradited former Venezuelan intelligence chief Hugo El Pollo Carvajal to the US after the National Court (AN) ordered Interpol to “hand him over immediately” to the North American country. Legal sources have confirmed Europe Press that El Pollo is on a plane on his way to the USA.which charges him with alleged crimes of drug and weapons trafficking.

AN activated his extradition this Tuesday after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that he could suffer a violation of his fundamental rights on US soil.

In particular, the Third Department of the Criminal Council of the AN ordered the surrender of Carvajal, requesting that its decision be communicated to the US Embassy in Madrid and to the Director of Estremera Prison (Madrid), where he was imprisoned.

Long delivery process

It was the latest episode in Carvajal’s extradition, which was suspended for the last time in March 2022 in compliance with the ECtHR’s precautionary measure pending a ruling on his defense’s lawsuit. July 13 Strasbourg He rejected it, considering that El Pollo failed to prove that he ran “a real risk» be sentenced to “irreducible” life imprisonment.

The defense argued that if extradited and tried in US courts, he could suffer a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment”. However, the ECtHR rejected this, recognizing that the US has a “judicial system that respects the rule of law and the principles of fair trial”.

The Sun Cartel

The former head of the military counterintelligence service with Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro is being prosecuted in Washington for events that took place between 1999 and 2019, when he belonged to the so-called Cartel de los Soles, a criminal organization allegedly controlled by Chavista, who he accuses, with the alleged cooperation of the FARC and other armed groups, would deliver large quantities of drugs to the United States.

El Pollo has been in the possession of the Spanish authorities since September 9, 2021, when the National Police, during a joint operation with the US DEA, took him into custody in a Madrid apartment where he lived “completely secluded”, according to the security forces.

His capture then revived an extradition process to the US, which was approved in 2020 but could not take place as Carvajal fled in November 2019, although his defense insists he never left Spain.

Carvajal first applied for asylum before fleeing, claiming that he was a victim of political persecution because the US authorities placed him in Maduro’s circle of trust.

This initial request was rejected in 2019, but he had no official knowledge of this until September 2021. Therefore, after his arrest, he reacted by trying to get the MUP to overturn his decision, but without success.

Cooperation with the Spanish judiciary

Carvajal launched a second unsuccessful asylum claim, citing a “cooperation process” with the Spanish judiciary that began after his arrest and led to the reopening of the case on alleged illegal funding of Podemos, which was filed in 2016 and reopened in 2022.

All these years, Carvajal’s defense tried several times to release their client, but the State Court refused, considering that the danger of his escape was evident.