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Venezuela's ex-spy chief arrested in Madrid on US warrant
Source: Associated Press
Venezuela’s ex-spy chief arrested in Madrid on US warrant
By ARITZ PARRA
April 12, 2019
MADRID (AP) — Venezuela’s longtime spy chief was arrested Friday in Madrid by Spanish police acting on a U.S. drug warrant a few weeks after he threw his support behind opponents of President Nicolas Maduro.
The arrest of retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal, who for more than a decade advised the late leader Hugo Chávez, was celebrated by U.S. law enforcement officials who watched helplessly as the spymaster slipped from their grips five years ago when he was picked up in Aruba on the same New York indictment used to order Friday’s arrest.
But some analysts said his surprise detention might have a chilling effect on Venezuela’s opposition.
The opposition saw Carvajal’s criticism of Venezuela’s socialist government as a stimulus to prod other military figures to defect, but the country’s armed forces have remained largely loyal to current Maduro.
Prosecutors in New York alleged Carvajal used his high office to coordinate the smuggling of approximately 5,600 kilograms of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006, according to the indictment.
-snip-
By ARITZ PARRA
April 12, 2019
MADRID (AP) — Venezuela’s longtime spy chief was arrested Friday in Madrid by Spanish police acting on a U.S. drug warrant a few weeks after he threw his support behind opponents of President Nicolas Maduro.
The arrest of retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal, who for more than a decade advised the late leader Hugo Chávez, was celebrated by U.S. law enforcement officials who watched helplessly as the spymaster slipped from their grips five years ago when he was picked up in Aruba on the same New York indictment used to order Friday’s arrest.
But some analysts said his surprise detention might have a chilling effect on Venezuela’s opposition.
The opposition saw Carvajal’s criticism of Venezuela’s socialist government as a stimulus to prod other military figures to defect, but the country’s armed forces have remained largely loyal to current Maduro.
Prosecutors in New York alleged Carvajal used his high office to coordinate the smuggling of approximately 5,600 kilograms of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006, according to the indictment.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/fc9401e3696643b8aa09c228e5c6ede9
