The former head of military intelligence for the Venezuelan regime, Hugo Armando "El Pollo" Carvajal, confessed before the United States justice system that dictator Hugo Chávez financed the presidential campaign of the corrupt Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2007 with 21 million dollars.
According to the former official's testimony, the funds were sent to Buenos Aires through 21 diplomatic flights coordinated during the period when Jorge Taiana, now Fuerza Patria candidate for the legislative elections, was Argentina's foreign minister and a key figure in the political alliance between Kirchnerism and the Chavista regime.
Carvajal's statement before the U.S. justice system shook both the international judicial landscape and Argentine politics. The detainee, extradited from Spain in 2023 after two years on the run, pleaded guilty to four charges related to drug trafficking and narcoterrorism, acknowledging his participation in the Cartel de los Soles and in the trafficking of tons of cocaine to the United States.
Cristina Kirchner y Hugo Chávez.
As part of his cooperation with the U.S. justice system, Carvajal is about to hand over unpublished documentation on the use of the state oil company Pdvsa as a financial vehicle for the export of cash funds to left-wing political movements in Latin America and Europe. According to his testimony, the operations were carried out through diplomatic suitcases, under the coordination of then Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami, one of Nicolás Maduro's closest men.
In this scheme, Carvajal directly pointed to the Kirchners as beneficiaries of these shipments, stating that the money came from Pdvsa and was transported from Caracas on official flights. The former intelligence chief stated that the transfers were part of a regional strategy designed by Chávez to support governments and allied parties, with the participation of diplomats and high-ranking officials.
"The Venezuelan government has illegally financed left-wing political movements around the world for at least 15 years," Carvajal declared in a document submitted to the U.S. judge, in which he also pledged to provide additional evidence.
Jorge Taiana y Nicolás Maduro.
The former spy's testimony is not limited to the Argentine case: it also mentions left-wing leaders such as Lula da Silva, Evo Morales, Gustavo Petro, and Fernando Lugo, as well as the Podemos movement in Spain and Cinco Estrellas in Italy. According to his description, the scheme combined cash and diplomatic logistics, a mechanism that continued under Maduro's leadership when he headed the Foreign Ministry.
The information provided by Carvajal could open new lines of investigation into Chavismo's interference in foreign campaigns and its direct relationship with international drug trafficking networks.
In Argentina, the revelation has reignited the debate on Venezuelan influence during the Kirchner years and politically implicates Jorge Taiana, now a Fuerza Patria candidate for national deputy, who was directly responsible for Argentina's foreign policy during the period in which, as Carvajal revealed, the illegal money transfers took place.
