Spanish Court Agrees to Extradite Former Venezuela Spy Chief to U.S.

MADRID — Spain’s highest criminal court agreed on Wednesday to extradite Venezuela’s former intelligence chief, Hugo Carvajal, to the United States, where he faces drug trafficking charges, according to a court statement.

The National Court’s decision came after Mr. Carvajal was denied asylum in Spain. A court official said he cannot appeal the extradition order and could be sent to the United States at any time.

The ruling came just four days after the extradition to the United States of a key ally of the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro. Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman known as Mr. Maduro’s financial fixer, had been arrested in Cape Verde, an island nation off the coast of West Africa, on American charges of money laundering.

Mr. Carvajal was arrested in Madrid in September for the second time in less than three years. The police said at the time that he had been living “fully shut-in” at an undisclosed location in Madrid, relying on the help of allies who were not identified.

Mr. Carvajal was a prominent figure in the government of Mr. Maduro before breaking with him in dramatic fashion. He released a video in February 2019 that accused Mr. Maduro of running a corrupt dictatorship whose top officials were engaged in drug trafficking.

He fled to Spain, where he was detained on the American extradition request in April 2019. But he was then released from a Spanish prison after a court deemed the extradition request to be too “abstract” to establish his involvement in drug trafficking.

Prosecutors successfully appealed the ruling, but Mr. Carvajal went missing, creating a diplomatic headache for Spain and adding another twist in a long cat-and-mouse game.

In a February 2019 interview with The New York Times, Mr. Carvajal denied that he was involved in drug trafficking. After his detention in Spain and during his extradition hearing, he and his lawyers claimed that the drug charges had been fabricated, and that the case brought by the United States was politically motivated.

The United States Justice Department has said that in April 2006, Mr. Carvajal coordinated the transportation of about six U.S. tons of cocaine to Mexico from Venezuela, according to charges filed in federal court in New York. If convicted, he would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.

Known by the nickname “El Pollo,” or “The Chicken,” Mr. Carvajal served for several years as the military intelligence chief under Hugo Chávez, the former leader of Venezuela, and under Mr. Maduro. Later, he was a lawmaker in the governing Socialist Party before his abrupt falling-out with Mr. Maduro, Mr. Chávez’s successor.

Mr. Carvajal urged the military to side with Mr. Maduro’s main opponent, Juan Guaidó. Mr. Guaidó was recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate president by the United States and several other Western governments, but that has not prevented Mr. Maduro from holding onto power, even as his country’s economic problems have spiraled in recent years.

Spain has become one of the main safe havens for members of the Venezuelan opposition and defecting members of the Socialist Party who have fled political and economic turmoil.