Extradition of Venezuelan spy chief to US from Spain delayed
A Spanish court has delayed the extradition of a former
Venezuelan spy chief to the United States where he is wanted on charges of drug
trafficking.
The same National Court tribunal that had consented to
handing retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal over to American authorities earlier
this week said on Friday that it was suspending his extradition to correct an
error in its handling of the resolution.
Spanish news agency EFE reported that the court had earlier
pledged to consider his concerns about facing a life sentence in the U.S.
before his extradition was formalized.
Another court in Spain has also requested to question
Carvajal as part of its probe into the alleged illegal financing of the
left-wing United We Can party, the junior member of Spain’s coalition
government. So far, the National Court tasked with considering his extradition
has refused to let the other court question Carvajal. United We Can has
consistently denied any links with illegal sources of financing.
Carvajal, who for more than a decade advised the late
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez before breaking with his successor Nicolás
Maduro, has been fighting extradition to the U.S. since he was arrested in
Spain in April 2019.
Prosecutors in New York allege that Carvajal used his high
office to coordinate the smuggling of approximately 5,600 kilograms of cocaine
from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006.
Carvajal also allegedly provided weapons to armed FARC
guerrillas in Colombia, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, and helped
fund the group’s activities by facilitating shipments of large amounts of
U.S.-bound cocaine through Venezuela.
A close collaborator of Chávez, Carvajal left Venezuela
after he broke with Maduro, throwing his support behind the opposition to
Maduro’s Socialist regime. It appears he had wanted to trade sensitive
information about Maduro's regime in order to avoid extradition to the U.S.
Comments
Post a Comment