MIAMI — A former Venezuelan intelligence chief, once a key ally to the late President Hugo Chávez, has admitted to drug trafficking charges a week before his trial was to commence in Manhattan’s federal court.
Retired Major General Hugo Carvajal was extradited from Spain in 2023, following over a decade on the run from U.S. authorities. His arrests in the past included a failed attempt in Aruba while he held a diplomatic position under the current Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro.
Carvajal confessed in court to four criminal charges related to narco-terrorism, participating in a military-officer cartel. This cartel allegedly partnered with Colombian leftist guerrillas to inundate the U.S. with cocaine.
In correspondence with the defense this week, prosecutors suggested that U.S. federal sentencing directives indicate Carvajal, now 65, should face a minimum of 50 years imprisonment.
Known as “El Pollo,” or “the chicken,” Carvajal was a close advisor to Chávez for over ten years. However, he eventually distanced himself from Maduro, Chávez’s successor, and backed the U.S.-endorsed opposing political faction in a dramatic turn of events.
Carvajal called for military defiance against Maduro in a clandestine recording a month into widespread protests aiming to elevate lawmaker Juan Guaidó, whom the Trump administration recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Unfortunately for him, the military uprising never took place, prompting Carvajal to escape to Spain. He was captured there in 2021 after evading an extradition order, residing undercover in a Madrid apartment.
Carvajal’s upfront guilty plea, without securing any favours, could be a strategic move to eventually gain leniency by aiding U.S. initiatives against a significant foreign rival with vast oil reserves. Despite being out of the power loop for a while, Carvajal’s supporters claim he could offer crucial intelligence on Venezuela’s notorious Tren de Aragua gang’s U.S. infiltration and spying operations by Maduro-friendly governments, including Cuba, Russia, China, and Iran.
Additionally, he could be attempting to draw attention from Trump with insights concerning the electoral tech firm Smartmatic. One of Carvajal’s subordinates was a key figure in Venezuela’s election authority during the company’s formative period. Smartmatic, based in Florida, reported its reputation suffered significantly when false claims by Trump associates were aired by Fox News, alleging the company helped orchestrate vote manipulation in the 2020 U.S. elections. Furthermore, a Venezuelan founder of Smartmatic faced bribery charges in the U.S. related to its business dealings in the Philippines.
In a public appeal, Gary Berntsen, a former CIA officer with Latin American expertise, encouraged Trump to advocate for the Justice Department to postpone Carvajal’s trial for further debriefing. “He’s no angel, he’s a very bad man,” noted Berntsen, “but we need to defend democracy.”
Robert Feitel, Carvajal’s attorney, reported that prosecutors informed the court they had not offered his client a plea deal or expressed interest in discussions. “I think that was an enormous mistake,” Feitel commented, emphasizing Carvajal’s potentially valuable information critical to U.S. national security.
Back in 2011, Carvajal was accused of orchestrating the smuggling of roughly 5,600 kilograms (over 12,000 pounds) of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006, earning millions from traffickers. As a leader within the so-called Cartel of the Suns, a nod to military insignias, Carvajal was said to have sourced the cocaine from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, recognized as a terrorist group by the U.S.
DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy criticized Carvajal for misusing his intelligence director position in Venezuela to harm the U.S., declaring, “After years of trying to evade law enforcement, (he) will now likely spend the rest of his life in federal prison.”