Venezuelan former spy chief arrested in Spain and faces US extradition

Hugo Chavez’s former spy chief appeared in a Madrid court on Saturday and refused voluntary extradition to the United States.

Hugo Carvajal, 59, was arrested by Spanish police at 3:30pm local time on Friday, on the request of US authorities, who have been trying to detain him on drug trafficking charges for many years.

A Spanish judge ordered he be held in jail until a formal extradition request be made.

Mr Carvajal denied any links to drug trafficking, and insisted he be allowed to remain in Spain, where he said he had family.

His arrest has been long-sought by the US, as he has been privy to the inner-workings of the “Chavistas” for decades.

In February this year, from Spain, Mr Carvajal dramatically announced that he was abandoning Nicolas Maduro, the president, and supporting his rival Juan Guaido.

However, his arrest is likely to send chills through the Miraflores presidential palace, given the decades of intelligence he has amassed, which he may share with the US to mitigate the charges against him.

Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who has Donald Trump’s ear on Venezuela, celebrated his arrest.

“Hugo Carvajal former military intelligence director of #Venezuela is safe & in custody in #Spain,” he tweeted.

“He will soon be coming to the US to provide important information about #MaduroRegime. Bad day for the #MaduroCrimeFamily.”

Mr Carvajal rose to power after befriending Chavez in the 1980s, when Chavez was his instructor in the military academy.

He took part in Chavez’s unsuccessful 1992 military coup, was imprisoned with him, and by his side when Chavez was elected in 1998.

In 2004 he became Chavez’s chief of military intelligence – a role he held for a decade.

Chavez died in 2013.

The retired major general was charged by New York prosecutors in 2011 of being a ringleader of the Cartel of the Suns – a  Venezuelan drug trafficking network led by high-ranking military officials who wear the sun emblem on their uniform.

Last year the US treasury formally accused Mr Maduro and head of the pro-Maduro parliament, Diosdado Cabello, of profiting from the cartel’s activities.

The charges against Mr Carvajal were unsealed in 2014, while he was serving as Venezuelan consul on the island of Aruba, and he was arrested – becoming the highest-ranking Venezuelan official ever arrested on a US drug warrant.

However, tortuous diplomatic wrangling led to the Dutch authorities in Aruba releasing Mr Carvajal, to the fury of the US. Mr Carvajal then fled back to Venezuela and was given a hero’s welcome by Mr Maduro, who made him a member of the National Assembly, granting him immunity.

However, when Mr Maduro lost control of the National Assembly in 2015 elections, and decided to create a pro-government Constitutional Assembly instead, Mr Carvajal broke with Mr Maduro.

Prosecutors in New York alleged that Mr Carvajal used his high office to coordinate the smuggling of approximately 5,600 kilograms of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006, according to the indictment.

He also allegedly provided weapons to armed Farc guerrillas in Colombia, according to the US treasury department, and helped fund the group’s activities by facilitating shipments of large amounts of US-bound cocaine through Venezuela.

Mr Carvajal could either accept the extradition to the United States or fight it before the court.

"How did a narcogeneral from Venezuela, who has been indicted in the US, evade Interpol red notices to travel to Europe?" said Roger Noriega, who oversaw policy toward Latin American at the state department during the presidency of George W. Bush.

"Last time he was arrested, the Obama administration let him slip away. I hope the US government won’t let that happen again."

Members of the opposition had been hopeful that Mr Carvajal’s support for Mr Guaido would encourage others to abandon Mr Maduro.

"We can’t allow an army, in the hands of a few generals subjugated to Cuban instructions, to become the biggest collaborator of a dictatorial government that has plagued people with misery," said Mr Carvajal in February, asking fellow military to join him.

As recently as two days ago, Mr Carvajal remained hopeful that other former peers would follow his steps.

"I have no doubt," he wrote in his Twitter feed, that "Maduro will leave by a decision of the Armed National Force."

But despite constant pleas by Mr Guaido and the Trump administration for them to flip, the Venezuelan military remains largely behind Mr Maduro.