Latest news with #narco-terrorism
The Guardian
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Former Venezuelan intelligence chief pleads guilty to US drug charges
A former top Venezuelan military intelligence chief has pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to narco-terrorism conspiracy, drug-trafficking and weapons charges, piling further US pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro. Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, AKA 'El Pollo' or 'The Chicken', was the director of Venezuela's military intelligence under presidents Hugo Chávez and Maduro. On Wednesday, days before his trial was set to begin, he pleaded guilty to four federal counts, related to accusations that he helped lead a drug-trafficking group within the Venezuelan government. 'Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios was once one of the most powerful men in Venezuela. For years, he and other officials … used cocaine as a weapon – flooding New York and other American cities with poison,' said US attorney Jay Clayton. Carvajal turned against Maduro in 2019 and supported a failed coup that year led by the opposition leader Juan Guaidó. Maduro stayed in power but the Trump administration at the time recognized Guaidó as the legitimate leader of the country. Despite his opposition to Maduro, Carvajal was already under investigation by the US government: in 2020, the justice department released an indictment against him and other top Venezuelan leaders – including Maduro himself – accusing them of narco-terrorism crimes and of running the Cartel of the Suns. He was eventually extradited to the US from Spain in 2023. The US indictment alleges that from 1999 through 2020, Maduro, Carvajal and top government officials 'participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy' between the Cartel of the Suns and the former Colombian rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), to traffic cocaine to the US. The Farc was previously classified as a terrorist organization by the US government before most of its members laid down their weapons in a historic 2016 peace process. Although the US government claims the Cartel of the Suns is a structured and government-run drug-trafficking group, analysts claim that it is more of a 'network of networks' of various drug-trafficking groups protected by elements within the Venezuelan state. The Miami Herald, citing unnamed sources, reported that Carvajal was potentially collaborating with the US government to provide information about Maduro's drug-trafficking activities, the Tren de Aragua gang and Venezuela's ties to Iran. Details of his potential collaboration may be revealed during his sentencing hearing in October. He is facing life in prison for each count. Co-defendants in the Cartel of the Suns case include Maduro, the Venezuelan interior minister and two former Farc leaders –including one who was killed in a mysterious operation by the Colombian military. As one of the last Latin America-related acts of the Biden administration this January, the US government raised its bounty for Maduro and his interior minister to $25m, related to the narco-terrorism case. One of Carvajal's co-defendants was sentenced last year to more than 21 years in prison. Cliver Alcalá , a former Venezuelan general who opposed Maduro, pleaded guilty in 2023 for providing support to the Farc. This case has the potential to uncover details of US operations in Venezuela, including information about alleged US-backed attempts to oust Maduro. In a letter to the New York court, Alcalá's attorneys have claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency, Drug Enforcement Administration, and national security council were aware of a fumbled 2020 plot to overthrow Maduro. That failed plot, deemed the Bay of Piglets, was foiled by Venezuelan security forces. Government officials arrested a number Venezuelan dissidents and two American former Green Berets, working as mercenaries for Silvercorp, a US security firm.
The Guardian
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Former Venezuelan intelligence chief pleads guilty to US drug charges
A former top Venezuelan military intelligence chief has pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to narco-terrorism conspiracy, drug-trafficking and weapons charges, piling further US pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro. Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, AKA 'El Pollo' or 'The Chicken,' was the director of Venezuela's military intelligence under presidents Hugo Chávez and Maduro. On Wednesday, days before his trial was set to begin, he pleaded guilty to four federal counts, related to accusations that he helped lead a drug-trafficking group within the Venezuelan government. 'Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios was once one of the most powerful men in Venezuela. For years, he and other officials… used cocaine as a weapon — flooding New York and other American cities with poison,' said US attorney Jay Clayton. Carvajal turned against Maduro in 2019 and supported a failed coup that year led by opposition leader Juan Guaidó. Maduro stayed in power but the Trump administration at the time recognized Guadió as the legitimate leader of the country. Despite his opposition to Maduro, Carvajal was already under investigation by the US government: in 2020, the justice department released an indictment against him and other top Venezuelan leaders – including Maduro, himself – accusing them of narco-terrorism crimes and of running the Cartel of the Suns. He was eventually extradited to the US from Spain in 2023. The US indictment alleges that from 1999 through 2020, Maduro, Carvajal and top government officials 'participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy' between the Cartel of the Suns and the former Colombian rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), to traffic cocaine to the US. Farc was previously classified as a terrorist organization by the US government before most of its members laid down their weapons in a historic 2016 peace process. Although the US government claims the Cartel of the Suns is a structured and government-run drug-trafficking group, analysts claim that it is more of a 'network of networks' of various drug-trafficking groups protected by elements within the Venezuelan state. The Miami Herald, citing unnamed sources, reported that Carvajal is potentially collaborating with the US government to provide information about Maduro's drug-trafficking activities, the Tren de Aragua gang and Venezuela's ties to Iran. Details of his potential collaboration may be revealed during his sentencing hearing in October. He is facing life in prison for each count. Co-defendants in the Cartel of the Suns case include Maduro, the Venezuelan interior minister and two former Farc leaders –including one who was killed in a mysterious operation by the Colombian military. As one of the last Latin America-related acts of the Biden administration this January, the US government raised its bounty for Maduro and his interior minister to $25m, related to the narco-terrorism case. One of Carvajal's co-defendants was sentenced last year to more than 21 years in prison. Cliver Alcalá , a former Venezuelan general who opposed Maduro, pleaded guilty in 2023 for providing support to Farc. This case has the potential to uncover details of US operations in Venezuela, including information about alleged US-backed attempts to oust Maduro. In a letter to the New York court, Alcalá's attorneys have claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency, Drug Enforcement Administration, and National Security Council were aware of a fumbled 2020 plot to overthrow Maduro. That failed plot, deemed the Bay of Piglets, was foiled by Venezuelan security forces. Government officials arrested a number Venezuelan dissidents and two American former Green Berets, working as mercenaries for Silvercorp, a US security firm.
CBS News
18 hours ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Video shows "narco sub" loaded with 3.5 tons of cocaine being intercepted in Pacific Ocean off Mexico
Combating narco-subs and narco-terrorism in the U.S. and abroad The Mexican navy seized 3.5 tons of cocaine hidden in a semisubmersible vessel off the Pacific coast, authorities said Friday, while releasing video of the "narco sub" being intercepted. The vessel, manned by three people and carrying 180 packages of cocaine, was detected during a maritime patrol in waters off the southern state of Guerrero, the navy said in a statement. Authorities released images of the seized drugs next to a Mexican naval ship as well as video of the craft being intercepted at sea. The Mexican navy seized 3.5 tons of cocaine hidden in a semisubmersible vessel off the Pacific coast, authorities said Friday, while releasing video of the "narco sub" being intercpeted. Mexican navy It is the latest in a series of major drug hauls showcased by the Latin American nation, which is under pressure from President Donald Trump to curb narcotics smuggling. Mexican authorities have seized more than 44.8 tons of cocaine at sea since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office in October, the navy said. That month, the navy announced that it had seized more than 8.3 tons of an unspecified type of drugs found in a semisubmersible and a convoy of other vessels off the Pacific coast — a record for a single operation at sea. In early June, authorities said they had seized nearly 42 tons of methamphetamine worth more than $50 million during raids on illegal drug labs on land. Mr. Trump has cited trafficking of illegal drugs — particularly the synthetic opioid fentanyl — as one of the reasons for the tariffs he has imposed on imports from Mexico. The Mexican navy seized 3.5 tons of cocaine hidden in a semisubmersible vessel off the Pacific coast, authorities said Friday. Mexican Navy Semisubmersibles, which cannot go fully underwater, are popular among international drug traffickers as they can sometimes elude detection by law enforcement. The vessels — which are often spotted in Colombian waters while heading to the United States, Central America and Europe — have also been intercepted off Mexico in recent months. In November, the Mexican Navy said it seized 3.6 tons of cocaine aboard a semisubmersible off the Pacific coast which was spotted about 153 miles off the resort of Acapulco. Last August, Mexico seized more than seven tons of cocaine in two separate raids in the Pacific Ocean, and dramatic video captured the high-speed chases on the open sea.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Hugo Carvajal: Venezuelan ex-spy chief pleads guilty to narco-terror charges
Venezuela's former head of military intelligence, Hugo Carvajal - also known as "El Pollo", or The Chicken - has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges in the US. US officials accused the 65-year-old of forming part of a drug-smuggling organisation made up of high-ranking members of the Venezuelan guilty plea is the latest twist in Carvajal's demise from feared spymaster to convict via his ignominious arrest in a hideout in Madrid, where he had been spotted despite donning a fake moustache and a who was a close ally of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, is thought to hold key information about Chávez's successor, Nicolás Maduro. Carvajal was part of the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) - named after the suns which feature on the lapels of high-ranking officers in the Venezuelan military - according to a statement released by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where Carvajal was due to go on trial in the coming days."For years, he and other officials in the Cartel de Los Soles used cocaine as a weapon - flooding New York and other American cities with poison," the statement added that he partnered with left-wing rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in neighbouring Colombia, whom he supplied with weapons and whose cocaine shipments to the US via Venezuela he received millions of dollars in payment in exchange, according to US Attorney Jay Clayton. The fact that Carvajal changed his plea to "guilty" two years after he denied all of the charges brought against him led to speculation he may have reached a deal for a lower sentence in exchange for providing incriminating information about the Maduro's US charged Maduro with "narco-terrorism" five years ago and has imposed sanctions on him and his inner circle. As former spy chief, Carvajal is thought to have access to a wealth of material about the current and past Venezuelan between Carvajal and Maduro soured in 2017, when anti-government protests that Carvajal spoke out in favour of swept the country. They broke down completely in 2019, when Carvajal urged the military to back opposition leader Juan Guaidó's attempt to overthrow Maduro. When the military remained loyal to Maduro, Carvajal fled to several years during which he was on the run, he was finally tracked down to an apartment in Madrid and extradited to the US.
CBS News
2 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Ex-Venezuela spy chief "El Pollo" pleads guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges including narco-terrorism
Miami — A former Venezuelan spymaster who was close to the country's late President Hugo Chávez pleaded guilty Wednesday to drug trafficking charges a week before his trial was set to begin in a Manhattan federal court. Retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal was extradited from Spain in 2023 after more than a decade on the run from U.S. law enforcement, including a botched arrest in Aruba while he was serving as a diplomat representing current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government. Carvajal pleaded guilty in court to all four criminal counts, including narco-terrorism, in an indictment accusing him of leading a cartel made up of senior Venezuelan military officers that attempted to "flood" the U.S. with cocaine in cahoots with leftist guerrillas from neighboring Colombia. In a letter this week to defense counsel, prosecutors said they believe federal sentencing guidelines call for the 65-year-old Carvajal to serve a mandatory minimum of 50 years in prison. Nicknamed "El Pollo," Spanish for "the chicken," Carvajal advised Chávez for more than a decade. He later broke with Maduro, Chávez's handpicked successor, and threw his support behind the U.S.-backed political opposition - in dramatic fashion. In a recording made from an undisclosed location, Carvajal called on his former military cohorts to rebel a month into mass protests seeking to replace Maduro with lawmaker Juan Guaidó, whom the first Trump administration recognized as Venezuela's legitimate leader as head of the democratically elected National Assembly. The hoped-for barracks revolt never materialized, and Carvajal fled to Spain. In 2021, he was captured hiding out in a Madrid apartment after he defied a Spanish extradition order and disappeared. Carvajal's straight-up guilty plea, without any promise of leniency, could be part of a gamble to win credit down the line for cooperating with U.S. efforts against a top foreign adversary that sits atop the world's largest petroleum reserves. Although Carvajal has been out of power for years, his backers say he can provide potentially valuable insights on the inner workings of the spread of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua into the U.S. and spying activities of the Maduro-allied governments of Cuba, Russia, China and Iran. He may also be angling for Trump's attention with information about voting technology company Smartmatic. One of Carvajal's deputies was a major player in Venezuela's electoral authority when the company was getting off the ground. Former Venezuelan military spy chief, retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal, walks out of prison in Estremera on the outskirts of Madrid on Sept. 15, 2019. Manu Fernandez / AP Florida-based Smartmatic says its global business was decimated when Fox News aired false claims by Trump allies that it helped rig the 2020 U.S. election. One of the company's Venezuelan founders was later charged in the U.S. in a bribery case involving its work in the Philippines. Gary Berntsen, a former CIA officer in Latin America who oversaw commandos that hunted al-Qaeda, sent a public letter this week to Mr. Trump urging the Justice Department to delay the start of Carvajal's trial so officials could debrief the former spymaster. "He's no angel, he's a very bad man," Berntsen said in an interview. "But we need to defend democracy." Carvajal's attorney, Robert Feitel, said prosecutors announced in court this month that they never extended a plea offer to his client or sought to meet with him. "I think that was an enormous mistake," Feitel told The Associated Press while declining further comment. "He has information that is extraordinarily important to our national security and law enforcement." In 2011, prosecutors alleged that Carvajal used his office to coordinate the smuggling of approximately 5,600 kilograms (12,300 pounds) of cocaine aboard a jet from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006. In exchange, he accepted millions of dollars from drug traffickers, prosecutors said. He allegedly arranged the shipment as one of the leaders of the so-called Cartel of the Suns - a nod to the sun insignias affixed to the uniforms of senior Venezuelan military officers. The cocaine was sourced by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization and which for years took refuge in Venezuela as it sought to overthrow Colombia's government. Carvajal "exploited his position as the director of Venezuela's military intelligence and abandoned his responsibility to the people of Venezuela in order to intentionally cause harm to the United States," DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy said. "After years of trying to evade law enforcement, (he) will now likely spend the rest of his life in federal prison."
