Spanish court ruled to extradite ex-head of Venezuela’s military intelligence to US

MADRID (TASS): The Spanish National Judicial Panel decided to implement the extradition to the United States of the former head of Venezuela’s military intelligence, Hugo Carvajal. This is stated in the press release of the legal instance circulated on Wednesday.

The decision followed after Carvajal’s refusal to grant asylum in the kingdom. It is noted that the court “agreed to implement the extradition of the Venezuelan military” to the United States. Now the question of extradition of the suspect will be dealt with by the police authorities.

The ex-head of Venezuela’s military intelligence was detained in April 2019 in Spain at the request of the United States on drug trafficking charges. At first, the kingdom’s court refused to extradite the Venezuelan, as a result of which he was released from custody. The decision was appealed, then the court agreed to extradite Carvajal to the United States. Spanish police later said they could not establish his whereabouts. In September of this year, he was again detained in the kingdom.

In 2008, the US Treasury put him on the sanctions list for financing drug trafficking by the Colombian rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which the US State Department included in the 2001 list of terrorist organizations.

Carvajal was an associate of the ex-President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez (1954-2013). He condemned the rule of the incumbent head of the Bolivarian Republic, Nicolas Maduro, and then recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president.