Hugo Carvajal

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Hugo Carvajal (2016)

Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios (born April 1, 1960 in Puerto La Cruz , Anzoátegui ) is a Venezuelan politician ( PSUV ), former head of military intelligence and both a former general and diplomat. At the end of February 2019, he publicly turned away from the current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and spoke out in support of the self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaidó .

Origin and education

Carvajal grew up on a cattle ranch not far from Punta de Mata in the state of Monagas , where he attended elementary school. He then attended the José Antonio Anzoátegui Military School in Puerto Píritu until July 1977 . He then attended the Venezuelan Military Academy , which he graduated in July 1981 with the rank of lieutenant .

At the military academy he met the later head of state Hugo Chavez , with whom he became friends.

Career

Hugo Chavez and Carvajal

In 1992 he was one of those soldiers who, together with Chavez, instigated a rebellion against the then President Carlos Andrés Pérez and were arrested for it.

During Hugo Chávez's presidency in 1999, Carvajal commanded the Battalion Capitán Manuel Toro and the following year he was promoted to the rank of colonel . At the same time he was appointed director of investigations to the General Directorate of the Military Intelligence Service and held this post for the next three years.

In 2004 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and in July of the same year took over the management of the military intelligence service , which he held until the end of 2011.

According to a Spiegel report from May 19, 2008, the then Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble confirmed - after evaluating the data carriers seized by the Colombian military in Ecuador from the FARC spokesman Raúl Reyes , who was killed in March 2008 - that Carvajal had the Colombian guerrilla FARC delivered Promised 20 grenade launchers to help train Venezuelan troops .

In September 2008, the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) accused Hugo Carvajal of assisting the FARC in its drug trafficking activities by protecting it in drug seizures, arms deliveries and the provision of Venezuelan government documents. Carvajal has been subject to the Continuing Criminal Enterprise Statute since September 12, 2008 and is therefore sanctioned.

In 2012 he retired with the rank of major general and was subsequently appointed Deputy Minister of Military Intelligence (DGCIM). From this position, he founded and headed the National Bureau against Organized Crime and the Financing of Terrorism in 2012. In April 2013, at the request of Chávez, he took over the DGCIM again and held this post until January 2014.

In January 2014 appointed him Nicolás Maduro to General north of the 25 kilometers from Venezuela lying Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba . Carvajal was arrested there in July 2014 at the instigation of the US authorities. He was to be extradited to the United States because of links to drug trafficking and the Colombian FARC, but was released two days later.

According to the factsheet "Lebanon & Hezbollah" of the Sheldon Adelson- funded Washington nonprofit organization Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), Carvajal was the "captain between Venezuela and Iran , the Quds force , Hezbollah and cocaine smuggling ".

Hugo Carvajal as a member of the National Assembly (2016)

Carvajal first became politically active in May 2015 when the ruling Socialist Party (PSUV) in his home state Monagas nominated him as their candidate for the parliamentary election in Venezuela in 2015 . In the later election campaign he was accused by members of the opposition party Voluntad Popular that he was seeking immunity by running a candidacy for arrest warrants from the USA. On January 5, 2016, he entered the National Assembly of Venezuela as a member of the PSUV with 50.05 percent of the vote ; with a mandate expected until 2020.

In order to be removed from the US drug trafficking blacklist and associated sanctions, Carvajal planned to go to the United States in early 2017 to investigate his allegations.

During the government crisis that emerged in Venezuela in January 2019, Carvajal spoke out from Spain on February 21, 2019 for the first time publicly against the controversial President Nicolás Maduro, describing him as a dictator with a corrupt inner circle who was involved in drug trafficking and promoting corruption . He called on the military to oppose Maduro's blockade of USAID aid deliveries, for example on the Tienditas Bridge where the Venezuela Aid Live took place. He posed the rhetorical question to the generals as to what right they should have to prevent humanitarian aid that was there to save lives. At the same time, Carvajal spoke out in favor of the opposition leader Juan Guaidó .

In March 2019, he was stripped of the rank of major general in Venezuela because of the recognition of Juan Guaidó as interim president. In mid-March 2019 - according to media reports - Carvajal fled by boat from Venezuela to the Dominican Republic and from there with false papers to Spain, where his son and family live. Shortly after Elliott Abrams , the US special envoy for the "restoration of democracy in Venezuela" held a meeting with high-ranking Spanish officials in Madrid , Carvajal was arrested in Madrid on April 12, 2019; an extradition to the USA should be checked. According to the opposition Venezuelan investigative journalist Ibéyise Pacheco, it was not an arrest, but an agreement to express Carvajal's willingness to cooperate with the American authorities. Previously, the Venezuelan secret service should have been sent to Spain to kidnap Carvajal there, which was prevented.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Showdown on the border , spiegel.de from February 22, 2019
  2. ^ Evidence on the laptops spiegel.de from May 19, 2008
  3. ↑ Treasury Targets Venezuelan Government Officials Supporting the FARC , US Department of the Treasury dated September 12, 2008, accessed April 12, 2019
  4. ↑ DEMARCHE REQUEST: OFAC NARCOTICS KINGPIN ACT DESIGNATION OF THREE SENIOR VENEZUELAN OFFICIALS. In: wikileaks.org. September 11, 2008, accessed April 13, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Head of the secret service arrested on the Antilles island , zeit.de of July 25, 2014, accessed on April 12, 2019
  6. ↑ Harald Neuber: The Netherlands let diplomats from Venezuela free and confess mistakes. July 28, 2014, accessed April 13, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Lebanon & Hezbollah Fact Sheet. In: emetonline.org. July 2016, accessed April 13, 2019 .
  8. ↑ “Candidatura del Grail. Hugo Carvajal busca inmunidad ” , elimpulso.com from July 1, 2015, accessed on April 14, 2019
  9. ↑ Politica , hugocarvajal.com accessed on 14 April 2019
  10. ↑ ELECCIONES A LA ASAMBLEA NACIONAL 2015, EDO. MONAGAS, HUGO CARVAJAL , cne.gob.ve from December 6, 2015, accessed on April 14, 2019
  11. ↑ Maolis Castro: El exjefe militar del chavismo pide ser excluido de lista negra de narcotráfico , elpais.com of February 25, 2017, accessed on April 14, 2019
  12. ↑ Harriet Alexander: Venezuelan former spy chief arrested in Spain and faces US extradition , telegraph.co.uk of April 13, 2019, accessed on April 13, 2019
  13. ^ Showdown on the border , spiegel.de from February 22, 2019
  14. ↑ Ana Vanessa Herrero & Nicholas Casey ( The New York Times ): Venezuela's Ex-Spy Chief Rejects Maduro, Accusing Leader's Inner Circle of Corruption (English; article from February 21, 2019)
  15. ↑ Ryan Dube & Kejal Vyas ( The Wall Street Journal ): Venezuelan Official Breaks With Maduro (English; article from February 21, 2019)
  16. ↑ Maduro expulsó a 13 oficiales de la FAN por reconocer a Guaidó. In: ntn24.com. April 4, 2019, Retrieved April 13, 2019 (Spanish).
  17. ↑ España encarcela a exjefe militar venezolano, mientras EE.UU. pide su extradición , Noticias de la Voz de América of April 13, 2019, accessed on April 13, 2019
  18. ↑ Former head of the secret service is in custody in Spain , spiegel.de on April 13, 2019, accessed on April 14, 2019
  19. ↑ El Ex-General Hugo Carvajal venezolano fue detenido en Madrid. April 13, 2019, Retrieved April 13, 2019 (Spanish).
  20. ↑ Reports: Venezuela's ex-chief of intelligence arrested in Spain. April 12, 2019, accessed April 13, 2019 .
  21. ↑ NARCOTRÁFICO: Hugo Carvajal buscaba acuerdo con la DEA. In: reportero24.com. April 12, 2019, Retrieved April 13, 2019 (Spanish).
personal data
SURNAME Carvajal, Hugo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Carvajal Barrios, Hugo Armando
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Venezuelan politician and general
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Puerto La Cruz , Anzoátegui , Venezuela