Spanish police have failed to locate Hugo Carvajal, a former head of Venezuelan military intelligence and member of the Venezuelan National Assembly, just days after a Spanish court ruled that he be extradited to the United States, a source from local police told Sputnik on Wednesday
MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th November, 2019) Spanish police have failed to locate Hugo Carvajal, a former head of Venezuelan military intelligence and member of the Venezuelan National Assembly, just days after a Spanish court ruled that he be extradited to the United States, a source from local police told Sputnik on Wednesday.
"A judicial arrest warrant has been issued, and we continue to search for him, but we have not found him so far," the source said.
Spain's National Police detained Carvajal in April at the US' request. In hearings that followed, Carvajal's defense argued that Washington wanted to extradite their client in order to gain access to Venezuela's state secrets, and had no legal authority to prosecute the ex-intelligence chief for the crimes he was accused of. This led to the court refusing the extradition request in September. However, prosecutors appealed the ruling, which they claimed was guided by "political reasons." The court granted the appeal and reversed its decision on November 8.
Carvajal was a trusted adviser to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and served as military intelligence chief from 2004-2011 and 2013-2014. He is blacklisted by the US Treasury Department due to allegations of drug trafficking and providing weapons to the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
In 2016, Carvajal was elected into the National Assembly of Venezuela. He supports opposition leader Juan Guaido, who seeks to overthrow incumbent President Nicolas Maduro.
