This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2021)
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (February 2019) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the Spanish article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Hugo Carvajal]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|es|Hugo Carvajal}} to the talk page.
Carvajal as Major General with Hugo ChávezFrom left to right: Hugo Chávez, businessman Richard Boulton, his wife Marena Bencomo, and Carvajal. Carvajal worked actively in the resolution of the kidnapping of Boulton in ColombiaCarvajal as Deputy of the National Assembly
Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, nicknamed El Pollo ("The Chicken")[1] (born 1960), is a Venezuelan diplomat and retired general. He was the head of the military intelligence in Venezuela during Hugo Chávez's government, from July 2004 to December 2011.[2] Carvajal was arrested in Spain on 12 April 2019 based on an arrest warrant from the United States for 2011 drug trafficking charges; the U.S. asked Spain to extradite Carvajal.[3][4] After the Spanish courts approved his extradition to the United States Carvajal went into hiding. On 26 March 2020, the U.S. Department of State offered $10 million for information to bring him to justice in relation to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.[5] On 9 September 2021 he was arrested by Spanish police in an apartment in Madrid.[6] On 19 July 2023, Carjaval was extradited to the United States.[7]
Biography
Early life
Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios was born on April 1, 1960, in Viento Fresco, a village close to Caicara de Maturín, in the state of Monagas (Eastern Llanos)[citation needed], or in Anzoátegui state.[2] He finished his studies at the military academy in 1981.[2] His sister, Wilma Carvajal, was the Mayor of the Cedeño Municipality.[8]
Career
Carvajal met Hugo Chávez in 1980 at the military academy of Caracas, where Chávez was his instructor.[9] Carvajal took part in the 1992 coup attempt organised by Chávez against the government of Carlos Andrés Pérez.[2] He was detained together with Chávez and he was set free with a general amnesty that president Rafael Caldera introduced in 1994.[citation needed]
In September 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) accused Carvajal of helping Colombian guerrilla FARC in its drug trafficking activities by protecting them from drugs seizures, supplying weapons and providing with Venezuelan official documents.[10] He was placed on the list together with Henry Rangel Silva, Director of Venezuela's Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services, who later became Minister of Defense and Governor of Trujillo and with Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, former Minister of the Interior & Security.[10]
Carvajal was appointed head of the National Official against Organized Crime and Financing of Terrorism in October 2012. In April 2013 he was appointed as the replacement for Wilfredo Figueroa Chacín as head of the Military Counterintelligence.[2]
Arrest
Venezuela appointed Carvajal as its consul in Aruba in January 2014, however he had not been officially accepted by the Dutch government.[9][11] He was arrested in Aruba on 22 July 2014 on a U.S. arrest warrant.[12] Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro protested saying Carvajal had diplomatic immunity.[9] As a protest Venezuela closed its airspace to planes coming from Aruba and Curaçao for several hours, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. Maduro also threatened to slow down business at the Isla oil refinery on Curaçao.[13] On July 28, he was released and flown back to Venezuela by private plane. Aruba officials declared that Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans had decided to recognize Carvajal's immunity. The Netherlands declared Carvajal persona non grata.[1] In a public appearance Maduro stated: "We had a plan to escalate tension in Latin America".[13]
One day after his release information was released that Venezuela had sent four military ships close to the shores of Aruba while Carvajal was detained.[13] The United States Department of State said that it had evidence for severe threats by Venezuela against both Aruba and the Netherlands.[13] The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had contact with Venezuela about the military ships, with Venezuela stating that they were returning from an exercise. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affair also stated that Carvajal was released after strictly judicial considerations based on international law.[13]
Carvajal is also wanted by Colombia for the torture and murder of two agents.[1]
Maduro expelled Carvajal from the Armed Forces on 4 April, degraded his Major General status, and accused him of treason.[16]
Arrest in Spain and extradition
Carvajal was arrested in Spain by local authorities in 2019 at the behest of the U.S. government. However, his extradition to the United States to stand trial for drug trafficking was not carried out after a Spanish court rejected the American request.[17] The denial was appealed and then overturned in 2019 but Carvajal had disappeared by that point. In September 2021, Carvajal was arrested again by Spanish authorities after hiding out in Madrid for two years.[18] His subsequent asylum claim was denied in October 2021 and his extradition was approved to go forward. The extradition was put on hold again after Carvajal appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.[19] Carvajal faces charges of drug trafficking and narcoterrorism.[20]
On 13 July 2023, the European Court of Human Rights denied Carvajal's request to avoid extradition,[21] and five days later, Spain's High Court allowed for him to be immediately extradited to the United States.[22] On 19 July 2023, he was extradited from Spain, arriving in New York.[23][7] Charges against Carvajal filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York include cocaine importation and firearms-related charges.[24] He was arraigned in the Manhattan federal court on 20 July[7][25] and pled not guilty.[25]
