Spain agrees to extradition to the US of former Chavista general Hugo Carvajal

The Spanish Justice agreed to the extradition to the United States of former Venezuelan Chavista general Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, detained in Madrid and considered the most wanted fugitive for drug trafficking, after denying him asylum in Spain.

The Spanish National Court decided this Wednesday that Carvajal remains at the disposal of the International Police Cooperation Unit that must carry out the delivery to the United States.

Carvajal, known by the nickname of “the chicken”, Is claimed in the United States to be tried for crimes that in Spain amount to membership in a criminal organization or membership or collaboration with a terrorist organization and drug trafficking in its aggravated form.

We can

Carvajal, considered the most wanted fugitive in the United States for drug trafficking, will testify again before the Spanish Justice on October 27, as a witness, after providing documentation on alleged payments from Venezuela that would implicate former leaders of the Spanish left-wing formation Podemos.

Legal sources informed Efe this Tuesday of the decision adopted by the magistrate who is investigating the case, Manuel García Castellón, which coincides with the decision of the Spanish Ministry of the Interior to reject the appeal presented by Carvajal against the denial of his request for asylum, which accelerated the approval of his extradition to the United States.

The former Chavista general will return next week to the Spanish National Court, where he already declared at his own request a few weeks ago about matters that he said he knew after holding the position of head of Venezuelan Intelligence for years.

Another extradition

The extradition decision comes after the Superior Court of Justice of Spain approved on Friday the extradition to the United States of the Venezuelan Claudia Díaz, who was part of the intimate circle of the late President Hugo Chávez, who is accused of money laundering and belonging to a criminal group.

Díaz, who was a sergeant in the Navy, was Chávez’s nurse when he was being treated for cancer, while her husband was a close collaborator of the president, according to local press. She also acted as Venezuela’s national treasurer between 2011 and 2013, the court said in a statement.