Spain rejects extraditing Venezuela’s ex-spymaster to US
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MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Nationwide Court docket on Monday rejected the extradition to the USA of a former Venezuelan army spy chief accused of drug smuggling and different prices.
A courtroom spokesman mentioned that retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal, who claimed that the extradition request was politically motivated, could be launched inside hours of the choice.
A proper ruling is predicted later, mentioned the spokesman, who wasn’t licensed to be recognized by title in media experiences.
Carvajal headed Venezuela’s army intelligence company for greater than a decade and was an in depth aide to former Venezuelan chief, Hugo Chávez.
Earlier this yr, he fled to Spain after publicly supporting the opposition in an effort to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
His legal professionals informed a courtroom listening to final Thursday that the U.S. sought the extradition as a result of the data Carvajal possesses from controlling the secrets and techniques of Venezuela’s armed forces for therefore lengthy had the potential to topple the present Venezuelan authorities.
Spanish and U.S. officers have solid doubts on Carvajal’s claims to carry info that will be at present related, as he retired shortly after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro got here to energy in 2013.
The previous normal was arrested in Aruba in 2014 on one other drug warrant, however authorities within the Dutch Caribbean island rejected extraditing him to the U.S. and despatched him again to Caracas.
Prosecutors in New York say Carvajal ought to face trial for “narcoterrorism.” Investigators with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Company say he used his submit to coordinate the smuggling of round 5.6 tons of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006. He allegedly additionally used weapons to realize his objectives and aided and guarded Colombian guerrillas, based on unsealed U.S. courtroom paperwork.
Starting in 2002, Carvajal labored his means up Venezuela’s army intelligence division, turning into one of many closest aides and confidants of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. He was demoted months after Maduro got here to energy.
When Carvajal publicly backed Maduro’s opponents earlier this yr, he fled to Madrid, the place Spanish intelligence officers initially welcomed him. However police arrested the previous spy chief in mid-April after the U.S. issued a drug warrant.
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Parra reported from London.
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