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There are enough guarantees from the United States to extradite Hugo “el pollo” Carvajal
Hugo 'El Pollo' Carvajal, who was in charge of intelligence in Venezuela during the Hugo Chávez government, is close to being extradited to the United States.
All this was announced by the Third Section of the Criminal Chamber of the National High Court, which held a meeting this Thursday and has considered that the guarantees offered by the United States are sufficient to carry out the extradition.
The United States accuses Hugo Carvajal of drug trafficking, illegal tax evasion and cooperation with the Colombian FARC.
The United States guarantee responds to the request made by the plenary session of La Audiencia on October 29. For this reason, and "through the courts, access to the extradition request is available".
Arrival in Spain
'El Pollo' Carvajal entered Spain on March 18, 2019. He was quickly captured and detained on the grounds that a request for extradition from the United States was looming over him at that time.
At the time when he had been in prison for a month, the former head of Counterintelligence of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro requested international protection.
Soon after, and while his request was being decided, he was released and later fled.
It was on September 9 when the National Police, with data provided by the DEA -United States Anti-Drug Agency-, caught 'El Pollo', in an apartment located on Torrelaguna street in the capital of Spain.
At that time, the National Police explained that Carvajal lived totally cloistered, without going outside or looking out the window, and always protected by trusted people.
The capture launched the extradition request again, which has been postponed in time due to the obstacles that have emerged lately and which has ended with the decision taken today by the National High Court.
The Spanish Justice endorsed by 11 votes in favor and 7 against, Carvajal's transfer to the United States on October 20. When everything was ready, an error in the documentation delayed the process.
In this way, on October 22, the Third Section of the National High Court, the same one that gave the approval to his expulsion, issued a resolution in which, in keeping with the defense of 'El Pollo', "acknowledged an error of form, she corrected herself and put her own decision in suspense "
United States guarantees
In the letter, responding to the so-called Nota Verbal 187175-EXT-2019 of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Consulate of the United States adds:
"While the United States, therefore, is not obliged to present the requested guarantee, in consideration of the request of the Spanish court, the United States in this particular case, informs the government of Spain of the following: if Carvajal were convicted of Any offense contained in the indictment in case S1 11 CR. 205 (AKH) filed on April 15, 2019, which carries a potential penalty of life imprisonment, will not be subject to an unalterable life imprisonment. "
The US communiqué adds that, "the current legal framework in the United States allows him to request a review of his sentence on appeal and could, likewise, be released from his sentence by means of a petition for pardon or substitution of sentence for a lower sentence."
The prosecutor responsible for the case, Francisco Javier Redondo López, considered in a letter dated one day after the fact, on November 18, "adequate the guarantees" presented by the United States.
The prosecutor understands that regardless of whether 'El Pollo' Carvajal is sentenced to life imprisonment "this will not mean that he is going to remain incarcerated for life in an unfailing manner, thus complying with the doctrine of our Constitutional Court, embodied in the recent STC [Judgment of the Constitutional Court] of 6-10-2021 ".
From there, the last decision returned to the hands of the Criminal Chamber, which today has closed in the first instance, the extradition of Hugo Carvajal.
It is expected that in the next few hours "El Pollo" will leave Spanish territory for the United States.
