Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, nicknamed ''El Pollo'' ("The Chicken") (born 1960), is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n diplomat and retired general. He was the head of the military intelligence in Venezuela during

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

's government, from July 2004 to December 2011. Carvajal was arrested in Spain on 12 April 2019 based on an arrest warrant from the United States for 2011 drug trafficking charges; the U.S. asked Spain to extradite Carvajal. After the Spanish courts approved his extradition to the United States Carvajal went into hiding. On 26 March 2020, the U.S.

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

offered $10 million for information to bring him to justice in relation to

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

and

narco-terrorism Narcoterrorism, in its original context, is understood to refer to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation, and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws by t ...

. On 9 September 2021 he was arrested by Spanish police in an apartment in Madrid.

Biography

Early life

Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios was born on April 1, 1960 in Viento Fresco, a village close to Caicara de Maturín, in the state of

Monagas ) , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Monagas'' , image_map = Monagas in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_m ...

(Eastern Llanos), or in

Anzoátegui ) , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Anzoátegui'' , image_map = Anzoategui in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_a ...

state. He finished his studies at the military academy in 1981. His sister, Wilma Carvajal, was the Mayor of the Cedeño Municipality.

Career

Carvajal met Hugo Chávez in 1980 at the military academy of Caracas, where Chávez was his instructor. Carvajal took part in the 1992 coup attempt organised by Chávez against the government of

Carlos Andrés Pérez Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez (27 October 1922 – 25 December 2010) also known as CAP and often referred to as '' El Gocho'' (due to his Andean origins), was a Venezuelan politician and the president of Venezuela from 12 March 1974 to 12 M ...

. He was detained together with Chávez and he was set free with a general amnesty that president

Rafael Caldera Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez ( (); 24 January 1916 – 24 December 2009), twice elected the president of Venezuela, served for two five-year terms (1969–1974 and 1994–1999), becoming the longest serving democratically elected leade ...

introduced in 1994. In September 2008, the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) accused Carvajal of helping Colombian guerrilla

FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflic ...

in its drug trafficking activities by protecting them from drugs seizures, supplying weapons and providing with Venezuelan official documents. He was placed on the list together with

Henry Rangel Silva Henry de Jesús Rangel Silva (born 1961) is the current governor of Trujillo, Venezuela. A military general and former Minister of Defense, noticias24.com, 17 January 2012Perfil: Henry Rangel Silva, el nuevo ministro de la Defensa Rangel Silva wa ...

, Director of Venezuela's Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services, who later became Minister of Defense and Governor of Trujillo and with

Ramón Rodríguez Chacín Ramón Rodríguez Chacín (born November 9, 1951) is a Venezuelan politician. A retired naval officer, he was Minister of the Interior and Justice in 2002, and again in 2008. He took part in the November 1992 coup attempt. Early years Rodríguez ...

, former Minister of the Interior & Security. Carvajal was appointed head of the National Official against Organized Crime and Financing of Terrorism in October 2012. In April 2013 he was appointed as the replacement for Wilfredo Figueroa Chacín as head of the Military Counterintelligence.

Arrest

Venezuela appointed Carvajal as its consul in

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

in January 2014, however he had not been officially accepted by the Dutch government. He was arrested in

on 22 July 2014 on a U.S. arrest warrant. Venezuelan President

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019. Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade unio ...

protested saying Carvajal had diplomatic immunity. As a protest Venezuela closed its airspace to planes coming from

and

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

for several hours, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. Maduro also threatened to slow down business at the Isla oil refinery on Curaçao. On July 28, he was released and flown back to Venezuela by private plane. Aruba officials declared that Dutch foreign minister

Frans Timmermans Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is '' Francis''. Given name * Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diplo ...

had decided to recognize Carvajal's immunity. The Netherlands declared Carvajal ''

persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: ') is a status applied by a host country to foreign diplomats to remove their protection of diplomatic immunity from arrest and other types of prosecution. Diplomacy Under Article 9 of the ...

''. In a public appearance Maduro stated: "We had a plan to escalate tension in Latin America". One day after his release information was released that Venezuela had sent four military ships close to the shores of Aruba while Carvajal was detained. The

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

said that it had evidence for severe threats by Venezuela against both Aruba and the Netherlands. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had contact with Venezuela about the military ships, with Venezuela stating that they were returning from an exercise. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affair also stated that Carvajal was released after strictly judicial considerations based on international law. Carvajal is also wanted by Colombia for the torture and murder of two agents.

Support for Guaidó

On 21 February 2019, during the

2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis The Venezuelan presidential crisis is an ongoing political crisis concerning the leadership and the legitimate president of Venezuela; the office of the president has been contested since 10 January 2019, with the Responses to the Venezuelan p ...

, Carvajal made a video in support of

Juan Guaidó Juan Gerardo Guaidó Márquez (born 28 July 1983) is a Venezuelan politician, a former member of the Social democracy, social-democratic Popular Will party, and federal deputy to the National Assembly (Venezuela), National Assembly representing ...

as interim president of Venezuela and criticized

's presidency. Carvajal calls for Venezuelan military forces to break ranks and to allow the shipping of humanitarian aid to Venezuela. Maduro expelled Carvajal from the Armed Forces on 4 April, degraded his Major General status, and accused him of treason.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carvajal, Hugo 1960 births Fugitives Fugitives wanted by the United States Living people People of the 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts People of the Crisis in Venezuela United Socialist Party of Venezuela politicians Venezuelan escapees Venezuelan defectors Venezuelan diplomats Venezuelan generals Venezuelan soldiers Venezuelan people imprisoned abroad