Hugo Armando "El Pollo" Carvajal, former chief of military intelligence for the Hugo Chávez regime, became a key figure for the U.S. justice system. Extradited from Spain in 2023, Carvajal faces charges of drug trafficking and narco-terrorism in the United States. In exchange for a reduced sentence, he decided to cooperate with the DEA and the Department of Justice, revealing how Chavismo used the state oil company PDVSA to finance left-wing movements throughout the region.
On June 25, Carvajal pleaded guilty to four drug trafficking-related offenses before Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in the Southern District Court of New York. There, he admitted his membership in the Cartel de los Soles, a criminal organization embedded in the Venezuelan Armed Forces and considered terrorist by Washington. He also acknowledged having collaborated with Colombian guerrillas and supervised the shipment of tons of cocaine to North America.
Carvajal's confession not only exposed the structure of Chavista drug trafficking, but also its international political financing network. In court statements and documents leaked to European media, the former spy claimed that Chavismo illegally financed left-wing movements for at least fifteen years, channeling money to allied leaders and parties in Latin America and Europe.
According to his testimony, among the main recipients of funds were Néstor Kirchner in Argentina, Lula da Silva in Brazil, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Gustavo Petro in Colombia, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, and the Podemos party in Spain, as well as the Five Star Movement in Italy. "All of them were recipients of money sent by the Venezuelan Government," the former military officer stated before the court.
Carvajal explained that the Bolivarian regime operated through diplomatic pouches and official flights to move the funds, coordinated by Tareck El Aissami, then Minister of the Interior, with the direct approval of Nicolás Maduro, who at that time was foreign minister. He stated that the same method was used to send money to the Kirchners.
