Former Venezuelan intel chief pleads not guilty to US drug charges
File photo.
Venezuela's former intelligence chief General Hugo Carvajal, who was extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking charges, pleaded not guilty on Thursday (July 20). Carvajal, 63, arrived in the US on Wednesday after being extradited from Spain. According to a report by the news agency Reuters, he entered the plea in a hearing before US Magistrate Judge Stewart Aaron in Manhattan federal court.
Carvajal was ordered detained, and his next court date was set for July 25. American authorities suspect him of providing support to drug trafficking by the FARC guerrilla group in Colombia. And prosecutors in New York alleged that he used his office to coordinate the smuggling of approximately 5,600 kilogrammes (kg) of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006 that was destined for the US.
Allegations against Carvajal palpably incredible: Lawyer
Speaking to reporters, Carvajal's lawyer Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma said that the allegations against his client were palpably incredible. "Unlike in most federal drug cases, the government has not claimed to have evidence from searches. They have not suggested that they have text messages, emails, wiretap conversations, body wires, phone recordings made by informants, recordings of prison calls, cell site data, surveillance video or physical evidence linking General Carvajal to any of these crimes," Margulis-Ohnuma said.
Margulis-Ohnuma added that he would apply for Carvajal to be released on bail at a later date and pointed out that the former Venezuelan intelligence chief was categorically innocent of the charges.
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"General Carvajal looks forward to fighting these outrageous charges in court before an unbiased American jury," Margulis-Ohnuma further told reporters.
The arrests
Carvajal had served as the intelligence chief under former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Nicknamed 'El Pollo', he was stripped of his rank by President Nicolas Maduro's government after coming out in support of opposition leader Juan Guaido as the acting president in February 2019.
The 63-year-old had taken part in the failed 1992 coup that lifted Chavez to political prominence and is considered one of the most powerful figures of the leader's 1999-2013 rule.
Carvajal was first arrested in 2014 in Aruba, a semi-autonomous Dutch Caribbean island where Venezuela had been trying to accredit him as consul. However, he was released and returned to his country.
After being removed as the intelligence chief, he left Venezuela and was arrested in Spain in April 2019 but a court ordered his release arguing the US extradition request was politically motivated.
However, the decision was later reversed and Carvajal then went on the run. He was arrested again in 2021.
(With inputs from agencies)