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Hugo Carvajal: Spain backs US extradition request for Venezuela ex-general

EPA Hugo CarvajalEPA
The former general has been under US sanctions since 2008

The Spanish government has approved an extradition request from the US for Venezuela's former intelligence chief General Hugo Carvajal.

The US accuses him of drug-trafficking offences.

Mr Carvajal turned against the government of President Nicolás Maduro in February 2019 and backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's president.

He fled Venezuela on a boat and was arrested in Madrid in April 2019.

He then disappeared in November 2019 after a Spanish court ruled he should be extradited to the US. Spanish police have been unable to locate him since.

Mr Carvajal - who denies wrongdoing - had been under US sanctions since 2008 due to allegations he helped Colombia's Farc rebel group and protected US-bound drug shipments.

Reuters Hugo Carvajal and his family outside Spanish courtReuters
The former Venezuelan intelligence chief was in Spain before disappearing

Federal charges which accuse him of co-ordinating a 5,600kg (12,345lb) shipment of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006 became public in 2014.

The US Justice Department said in April that, if convicted, he could face between 10 years and life in prison.

Washington also believes that Mr Carvajal could share incriminating evidence about Mr Maduro.

The former general was a close ally of Venezuela's late socialist leader Hugo Chávez but later denounced his successor President Maduro. He was stripped of his rank after choosing to back opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

He escaped Venezuela by boat to the Dominican Republic before travelling on to Spain.

This was not the first time he had faced extradition to the US. In 2014 he was arrested on drug trafficking charges on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba. However, he was freed after the extradition request was denied.