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Narco, Terror, and Politics in Southwestern Europe (8/10)

Hugo Carvajal’s Statements

Narco, Terror, and Politics in Southwestern Europe (8/10)
Hugo "El Pollo" Carvajal
Jorge Cachinero el

Statements made by ‘El Pollo‘ Carvajal before Spanish and Italian judges and prosecutors

Since Carvajal’s second arrest in Madrid, his lawyer’s legal strategy is aimed at preventing him from being handed over to the United States (US).

Alternatively, if this would prove not to be feasible, his fall-back strategy consists in delaying his extradition as much as possible by reopening or reviving court cases in Spain on which Carvajal can share sufficiently sensitive information that forces the Spanish Justice to hold him in Madrid for a longer period.

To do this, Carvajal is using what he had always said was the most valuable thing he possesses – information.

Before Spanish judges and prosecutors so far, Carvajal has requested to testify on several occasions since his latest arrest and has taken advantage of those sessions to elaborate and to deliver documentation on fundamentally three matters, according to all media reports:

  1. the hiring of Baltasar Garzón by Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA),
  2. the illegal financing from Cuba and Venezuela for the creation of the communist political party Podemos, today, a junior coalition partner of Pedro Sánchez’s socialist-communist Government in Spain, and
  3. the gift given by Nicolás Maduro to the former President of Spain’s Government, Rodríguez Zapatero (a.k.a. ZP), a gold mine in the basin of the Orinoco valley.

Hiring of Baltasar Garzón by PDVSA

Carvajal gave the Spanish judge a copy of the contract for the provision of services between the Venezuelan company PDVSA and Ilocad, former judge Baltasar Garzón’s current law firm.

The contract, signed in 2016, is still in force and compromises Dolores Delgado’s -Spain’s State’s Prosecutor or Attorney-General from February 2020 to July 2022- reputation and independence, since one of the tasks entrusted to Ilocad is that of “coordinating with the Prosecutor’s Office and Courts in Spain in order to expedite the procedures and progress of the judicial process“.

Out of the almost €9 million in fees of the contract -€8,835,000, to be exact-, €1,980,000 correspond to the specific commissioning to Ilocad law firm, that is, to Baltasar Garzón, to coordinate with the Prosecutor’s Office of Spain, whose Attorney-General was, from February 2020 to July 2022, Dolores Delgado, Garzón’s sentimental partner.

These documents, on the part of PDVSA, include the signatures, among others, of today’s President Nicolás Maduro’s and that of Asdrúbal Chávez’s, Hugo Chávez’s cousin.

Financing of the Spanish communist party Podemos

Carvajal shared with the Spanish judge information and documentation he possesses about the illegal financing of the communist party Podemos.

According to Carvajal, since Podemos’ founding significant amounts of money were delivered to many of its leaders, with the concrete mission of creating a Bolivarian regime in Spain, to the image of that of Venezuela’s.

In addition, Carvajal shared evidence that this kind of political funding was not only carried out from Venezuela’s regime to Podemos in Spain, but also to several political far-left movements both in Southern Europe and in Latin America.

Carvajal testimony about Italy’s 5-Star Movement being one of many motivated a request from the Italian Justice to interrogate Hugo Carvajal in Madrid, that already took place.

According to Carvajal, this financial support on behalf of the Venezuelan regime to political parties also took place in Argentine with late former President Néstor Kirchner’s party and with his widow’s, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, or with Gustavo Petro’s, President of Colombia after June’s 2022’s presidential elections – judges in Argentine and Colombia also requested to question Carvajal to inquire about these allegations.

Specifically, Carvajal testified that the Chavista regime sent $20 million “in suitcases” for financing Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s latest electoral campaign.

Suitcases show up again as the Chavista regime’s apparent favourite system for shipment of all kinds of cargoes.

From the Madrid prison in which Carvajal is kept, he sent a letter to a Spanish newspaper reminding of a Venezuelan regime botched attempt to introduce $800,000 dollars in Argentine meant for Cristina Fernández via a private jet and states out “that this was the twenty-first shipment (of this kind). $20 million dollars had already been taken that way to Argentina”.

According to Carvajal, this illegal financing was carried out from Venezuela in favour of Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Brazil’s Lula da Silva, Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo, Peru’s Ollanta Humala, Honduras’ José Manuel Zelaya, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, and Uruguay’s radical left movements too.

In the specific case of Rafael Correa, the Spanish media had revealed that from 2007 and 2017 the Government of Ecuador transferred €8.4 million to Podemos through its Madrid Embassy.

According to Carvajal’s deposition to the Spanish judge, the Cuban government manages a revolving fund of $200 million, which is regularly replenished by the profits of Venezuelan oil surplus sale on the black market and with which Cuba finances populist movements that are questioning democratic institutions across America and Europe.

In the case of the funds sent to the Podemos party in Spain, the modus operandi included several options, which have been used, individually or in combination, for the past fifteen years.

For example, Carvajal stated out that the money was delivered in hand and in cash to the leaders of Podemos party, who used to spend extended periods of time in Caracas, advising the Chavista regime, in its beginnings, or, alternatively, through diplomatic pouch, from La Habana to Caracas and, later, also through diplomatic pouch, to Madrid, where it was given away to Podemos leaders.

According to General Carvajal, the people involved in these cash-in-hand deliveries were always the same: on the Spanish side, Juan Carlos Monedero, founder of Podemos and current president of the party’s foundation, who was known in Caracas by the unoriginal name of “El Español“; Ramón Gordils, who was Maduro’s representative to maintain the relationship with Podemos outside Venezuela; and, lastly, Williams Amaro, personal assistant to the Bolivarian president, who was in charge of collecting and delivering money, personally, inside Venezuela.

In the statements that ‘El Pollo’ made to the judge in Spain, it is referred that the money was collected at Caracas’ Embassy of Cuba and taken to the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, where it was received by Williams Amaro, who either handed it directly over to Juan Carlos Monedero, if he was in Caracas for such delivery, or, if not, Williams Amaro sealed it as a diplomatic pouch and sent it to the Venezuelan Embassy in Spain.

Finally, the money was withdrawn from the Venezuelan Embassy in Madrid by Ramón Gordils, Vice Minister of Economic Cooperation of Venezuela, and President of the Foreign Trade Bank (Bancoex), who, subsequently, delivered the cash to Juan Carlos Monedero.

Another formula recurrently used, according to Carvajal’s testimony, was for PDVSA to contract services paid with large surcharges to small companies close to Podemos and registered in Spain, which, in turn, diverted part of that revenue to Podemos’ personnel.

Likewise, the Caracas regime used to transfer money to Podemos leaders through one of the Antilles tax havens.

As part of Carvajal’s depositions, “El Pollo” made the Spanish judge aware that Ramón Gordils made use of front men with access to banks’ employees located on islands in the Caribbean Sea, such as Aruba, Bonaire or Curaçao -which are known as the ABC of the Caribbean, by their initials and which are all very close to the Northwestern coast of Venezuela-, who created ghost accounts, where money was deposited, then transferred to an European bank, from where it reached Podemos coffers, after which the ghost accounts were eliminated.

In the end, according to Carvajal’s knowledge, as reported by several Spanish media outlets, the Podemos party could have received, at least, over €7.2 million from Venezuela.

All ‘El Pollo’ statements to the Spanish judges were followed by testimonials of protected witnesses, who corroborated the general´s claims.

In any case, “El Pollo” Carvajal made it clear to Spanish judges that, regardless of whether his extradition to the US is executed or not, he will continue collaborating with the Spanish Justice system by delivering additional documentation, either from Madrid or from the US.

The matter is overly sensitive since, according to the Spanish Organic Law 3/2015, on the financing of political parties, “(t)he parties may not accept any form of financing from governments and foreign public bodies, entities or companies or companies directly or indirectly related to them“.

Despite all the above, the then Spanish Attorney-General, Dolores Delgado, Baltasar Garzón’s significant other, once again came to the legal rescue of Podemos.

Dolores Delgado’s Public Prosecutor’s Office requested the closure of the investigation being carried out at the National Court into the alleged irregular financing of Podemos party with funds from Venezuela.

This case, which had been closed in 2016, was reopened in October 2021 in the heat of the documentation provided by the former head of Venezuelan intelligence Hugo ‘El Pollo‘ Carvajal and is now under threat to be dismissed from Spanish courts all together thanks to the unvaluable services of the former Spanish Attorney-General and potentially of her successor and close confidant, or so does claim some Spanish media.

However, despite the surprising legal understanding that the now former Spanish Attorney-General, Dolores Delgado had shown for Podemos arguments, this is proving insufficient enough to protect Podemos leaders from the accusations of being connected with the Venezuelan regime drug criminal syndicate.

For instance, last May the 31st Criminal Court Judge of Madrid acquitted a former member of the Spanish National Intelligence –Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI)-, Colonel Diego Camacho, whom the former Vice President of the Pedro Sánchez’s socialist-communist Government, Pablo Iglesias, had accused of the crimes of slander and libel by incriminating him, according to Iglesias, of having links with drug traffickers in Venezuela and with the financing from Iran.

In its ruling, the Judge concluded his arguments as follows: “Throughout the proceedings there has been almost total alignment between the accusatory positions of Pablo Iglesias Turrión and the Attorney-General’s Office, both in terms of the legal-penal qualification and the dimension and content of the evidence“.

Moreover, Judge Manuel García-Castellón and the Spanish Police’s Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) initially beat Dolores Delgado’s Prosecutor’s Office, which wanted to shelve the investigation into the illegal financing of Podemos without taking a single step.

In fact, the head of the Central Court of Instruction number 6 of the Spanish National Court gave the Police orders to trace the bank accounts of Podemos co-founders Juan Carlos Monedero and Carolina Bescansa.

These enquiries are being carried out in connection with the proceedings that were opened after the revelations that had been made by the former head of Chavista Intelligence and Counterintelligence Hugo ‘El Pollo’ Carvajal.

At the end, the Spanish Audiencia Nacional closed the investigation into the financing of Podemos by Venezuela on a procedural matter, although it gave the judge the green light to proceed with the investigation of Podemos for money laundering.

In a June 24th, 2022 ruling, the Audiencia Nacional’s Criminal Chamber invited the case to be taken either to the Court of Auditors or to be redirected to another court without the crime of illegal party financing being part of it, since the ruling argues that the starting point of the alleged crimes predate the criminalization of irregular party financing in Spain in 2015.

In that same ruling, the Audiencia Nacional gave the judge of the Central Court of Instruction number 6, Manuel García-Castellón, permission to investigate Podemos for money laundering.

In fact, judge Manuel García-Castellón immediately after such a resolution opened a new case to investigate Podemos for an alleged money laundering offence punishable by up to six years in prison.

The judge is investigating Chavista funds transferred from Venezuela to Spain through front men and ghost accounts.

The former head of Venezuela’s Intelligence and Counterintelligence services, Hugo ‘El Pollo’ Carvajal, revealed to the magistrate that Juan Carlos Monedero, with the help of Nicolás Maduro’s secretary, Williams Amaro, and the deputy minister for economic cooperation, Ramón Gordils, used a front man to divert funds from the Dutch islands in the Caribbean Sea (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, or ABC) that ended up in Podemos’ coffers.

The legal quest to find out whether the information shared by former general Hugo Carvajal regarding Podemos illegal money laundering of Venezuelan regime funds is true continues.

While Carvajal is being kept in custody in Madrid until the legal battle he is fighting to avoid extradition to the US is finished, his family is starting to feel the pressure of the Venezuelan regime.

In a letter to the Spanish media, ‘El Pollo’ alerts that his family is at “risk” and “is paying the consequences” for having revealed the illegal financing of Podemos and other extreme left-wing parties around the world.

In fact, Maduro’s Government accused Carvajal’s wife, Angélica Rubio, of being the leader of a failed coup d’état organised by a terrorist group in Venezuela a week before the November 21, 2021 elections.

On November 3rd, 2021, one of Angélica Rubio’s cousins that had travelled from Madrid to Caracas found that Venezuelan police was waiting for him at the Maiquetía Simón Bolívar airport with an arrest warrant on the charges of organized crime and the financing of terrorism in Venezuela, which could carry for him prison sentences of up to 30 years.

According to this charges, Carvajal’s wife is the mastermind and the coordinator of the whole plot against Maduro’s regime from her home in Madrid.

Did Nicolás Maduro give former Spanish President Rodríguez Zapatero (a.k.a. ZP) a gold mine?

Carvajal’s statements to the Spanish judge about the fact that Nicolás Maduro did give a gold mine to ZP in the Orinoco Valley mining basin as gift for his services to the Venezuelan regime is one of the most perplexing of all.

Hugo Carvajal told the judge that he had documents, which he promised to hand over, about the payments, allegedly irregular, received by several former socialist ministers of ZP’s Governments from the Chavista regime.

El Pollo‘ Carvajal told the judge that the documents he will eventually provide to him will prove, beyond any doubt, that Rodríguez Zapatero owns a gold mine in the Orinoco Valley, in Venezuela, given to him as a gift by Nicolás Maduro.

This information matches with the statements that a former Colombian senator, Piedad Córdoba, very well connected to Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces –Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)-, made during an interview that was released on the “SecretaYouTube channel, on February 28th, 2020, in which former Senator Córdoba said that it was ZP himself who had told her that he owns a gold mine in the Orinoco Valley, in Venezuela.

After this information had been made public, ZP formally requested before Carvajal’s judge to be accepted as a private accusation in the case, since this status would grant him access to all the confidential information, including testimonies and documents that Carvajal had delivered to the judge.

The judge rejected ZP’s request.

William Cárdenas, a Spanish-Venezuelan lawyer, and diplomat, believes that the “collaboration” of the former president of the government of Spain, ZP, with Nicolás Maduro “borders on the almost complicity with a criminal regime like that of Venezuela” and asks rhetorical questions such as “what does Zapatero fear of what Hugo Carvajal may tell? ” or “who paid for Zapatero’s more than fifty trips to Venezuela and his lodging and entertaining expenses there? “.

According to Antonio Ledezma, former Caracas mayor and a leading opposition figure to Venezuelan’s regime, “Zapatero’s case is inexplicable, because he must know that this is a regime that is linked to drug trafficking”.

Lastly, in addition to all the above, ‘El Pollo’ handed documents over and revealed information contained in a report named “ETA en Venezuela” -being ETA the acronym of a Spanish terrorist group, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna– to a Spanish newspaper pertaining to the whereabouts 17 Spanish ETA terrorists inside Venezuela.

All seventeen have numerous pending charges for murder on their shoulders and had fled from the Spanish justice system years ago and are still under search and capture by the Spanish authorities.

Those terrorists happen to live still today in Venezuela under the protection of Nicolás Maduro’s regime and some of them have been granted Venezuelan nationality.

El Pollo’ listed their respective names and hideout locations, in Caracas, Cumana, Chichiriviche, and other areas, to the newspaper to the full extent of even the smallest details.

Carvajal declared to the Spanish newspaper that, as part of his Intelligence responsibilities, he was aware of the agreement that Spanish former Government President Felipe González had clinched with the Venezuelan Government of that time by which ETA activists were granted refuge in the Caribbean and the instructions the Spanish Intelligence Services had received for all of them not to be disturbed.

Hugo Carvajal celebrated 2022 New Year’s Eve inside one of Madrid’s prisons and his extradition to the US is still being argued in Court in Spain.

2021 also ended with the US Department of Justice removing Prosecutor Emil Bove, co-Head of the Terrorism and International Drug Trafficking Unit of the Southern District of New York, who was investigating and was demanding Spain Hugo ‘El Pollo’ Carvajal’s extradition.

This fact could delay further the delivery of ‘El Pollo’ to the US authorities and help Spanish National Court judges to continue with their investigation on the alleged money laundering carried out by Podemos with the Venezuelan regime’s handed-over funds*.

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* “El bufete de Baltasar Garzón factura 9 millones a Venezuela por ‘coordinación con la Fiscalía en España’”, The Objective, September 28, 2021; “Acusan a la cúpula de Podemos de 12 delitos ante el Supremo por la financiación ilegal de Irán”, OK Diario, February 1, 2016; “‘El Pollo’ Carvajal revela al juez que Maduro y Castro enviaban dinero a Podemos vía ‘valija diplomática’”, OK Diario, October 18, 2021; “‘El Pollo’ denuncia al juez que Maduro también financió a Podemos desde paraísos fiscales del Caribe”, OK Diario, October 19, 2021; “La investigación sobre la financiación ilegal de Podemos ‘seguirá adelante’ con los testigos del ‘Pollo’ Carvajal, Libertad Digital, November 1, 2021; “La Audiencia Nacional ordena a la Policía investigar los pagos de Venezuela a los fundadores de Podemos”, El Mundo, October 17, 2021; “Anticorrupción y la UDEF investigan a Monedero en una causa secreta por cobrar del chavismo”, OK Diario, October 27, 2021; “Dos testigos afirman que Juan Carlos Monedero recibió maletas con dinero del chavismo en el Meliá de Caracas”, El Mundo, November 18, 2021; “Maduro requirió a PDVSA 2,5 millones en 2012 para entregárselos a los fundadores de Podemos”, OK Diario, November 26, 2021; Román Bermejo, David y Ruiz, Rocío: Podemos en Venezuela: Cómo se financió la infiltración chavista en España, Homo Legens, 2021; “William Cárdenas: ‘Garzón y Zapatero rayan la complicidad con un régimen criminal como Venezuela’”, OK Diario, October 17, 2021; “Secreta”, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLLkyKOADxY, 20’:58’’-21’:16’’, February 28, 2020; “’El Pollo’ atribuye a Zapatero la propiedad de una mina de oro en Venezuela y señala a varios exministros socialistas”, El Debate, October 16, 2021; “Rodríguez Zapatero pidió ser acusación privada”, OK Diario, November 6, 2011; “Las empresas tapadera de Podemos desviaban hasta el 20% de los fondos chavistas para financiar al partido”, OK Diario, December 9, 2021; “Malas noticias para Podemos: destituido el fiscal de EEUU que pide la extradición de ‘El Pollo’”, OK Diario, January 1, 2022; “Podemos a la desesperada: suplica al juez que no cite a ‘El Pollo’ Carvajal en la investigación de Neurona”, OK Diario, January 7, 2022; “Sin extradición ni asilo: el limbo del Pollo Carvajal tras cuatro meses en prisión”, The Objective, January 9, 2022; “‘El Pollo’ desvela el paradero exacto de 17 etarras escondidos en Venezuela y protegidos por Maduro”, OK Diario, January 11, 2022; “‘El Pollo’ Carvajal avisa de que su familia está en peligro por desvelar la financiación ilegal de Podemos”, OK Diario, January 12, 2022; “‘El Pollo’ Carvajal revela que Ecuador y Uruguay también se financiaron de Venezuela”, OK Diario, January 12, 2022; “El juez sopesa mantener bajo secreto la causa sobre Podemos, como pedirá el fiscal”, ABC, January 18, 2022; “Entrevista a Luca Costantini. Mario Noya entrevista a Luca Costantini por su nuevo libro, Al olor del dinero, donde cuenta “la verdadera historia” de la formación neocomunista, esRadio, January 23, 2022; “La UDEF pide al juez rastrear las cuentas de Monedero y Bescansa por la financiación de Podemos”, OK Diario, January 24, 2022; “Iglesias también pierde la demanda que puso a Inda por afirmar que le financiaron Irán y Venezuela”, OK Diario, January 24, 2022; “Monedero usó un testaferro y un banco en Suiza para enviar a España el dinero que cobraba del chavismo”, OK Diario, January 25, 2022; “La UDEF investiga las estancias de Monedero en el Meliá Caracas donde recibió el dinero del chavismo”, OK Diario, January 26, 2022; “Las claves del «no» asilo de El Pollo que mantiene congelada su extradición”, El Debate, January 31, 2022; “La UDEF pide rastrear las cuentas de cuatro fundadores de Podemos”, Vozpopuli, February 1, 2022; “Álvaro Nieto: «De Plus Ultra y del Delcygate solo hemos visto la punta del iceberg»”, The Objective, February 2, 2022; “La Audiencia Nacional revisa este viernes si la investigación a Podemos puede seguir adelante”, La Razón, February 2, 2022; “La Policía pide investigar las cuentas de fundadores de Podemos tras el relato de ‘El Pollo’ Carvajal”, El Debate, February 2, 2022; “La UDEF busca el nombre de un testaferro de Monedero”, OK Diario, February 15, 2022; “El juez del ‘caso Neurona’ envía una rogatoria a México para interrogar a dos testigos clave”, The Objective, February 15, 2022; “La Audiencia Nacional abre una vía para que el juez siga investigando la presunta financiación ilegal de Podemos y sus fundadores”, El Debate, March 3, 2022; “Una juez de Colombia interrogará a ‘El Pollo’ Carvajal por la financiación del ex terrorista candidato Petro”, OK Diario, April 19, 2022; “La Fiscalía de Delgado pide carpetazo para la investigación de la financiación de Podemos vía Venezuela”, OK Diario, April 19, 2022; and “El juez escuchará a más testigos antes de decidir sobre la investigación de Podemos y Venezuela”, La Razón, April 20, 2022; “Iglesias pierde una querella contra un espía… y el juez acusa al fiscal de alinearse con él”, The Objective, May 21, 2022; “Pablo Iglesias: el juez da la razón al coronel que le vinculó con el narcotráfico”, OK Diario, May 21, 2022; “La Policía retoma la investigación a Monedero por la financiación de Podemos tras sortear a la Fiscalía”, OK Diario, May 31, 2022; “Casoplón, Irán, Venezuela y acoso: los casos que ha perdido Iglesias”, OK Diario, June 10, 2022; and “Entrevista a Antonio Ledezma, ex alcalde de Caracas. «No me explico cómo Zapatero apoya un régimen tan depravado como el de Maduro»”, El Debate, June 19, 2022; “La Audiencia Nacional archiva la investigación sobre la financiación de Podemos por Venezuela”, La Razón, June 27, 2022; “La Audiencia Nacional ordena el cierre de la investigación sobre la financiación de Podemos”, ABC, June 27, 2022; “La Audiencia Nacional ordena el cierre de la investigación sobre la financiación de Podemos”, ABC, June 27, 2022; “La Audiencia Nacional da vía libre al juez García-Castellón para investigar a Podemos por blanqueo”, OK Diario, June 27, 2022; “Cuatro entregas por 3 millones: lo que el juez tiene bajo la lupa sobre la financiación de Podemos”, La Razón, June 27, 2022; “Podemos investigado por blanqueo en una causa secreta”, OK Diario, June 28, 2022; “«El Pollo» Carvajal, Monedero y el juez que quiso indagar entre Venezuela y Podemos”, La Razón, July 3, 2022; “Dos sentencias califican de «veraces» las noticias de los 272.000$ a Pablo Iglesias”, OK Diario, July 11, 2022; “La Audiencia Nacional abre causa contra Monedero por blanqueo y falsedad”, Vozpopuli, July 28, 2022; “Las confesiones del Pollo Carvajal y los testigos protegidos cercan a Juan Carlos Monedero”, Vozpopuli, July 29, 2022; and “La Audiencia Nacional indaga en 92 cuentas de Monedero y en una red “triangular” para blanquear”, La Razón, July 29, 2022.

NB: All information and data about the facts and people in this article were taken from open and public sources, which are cited here. Any errors they may have made are not attributable to the author of this article, but to those of the publications from which they were taken. This series of articles was completed on July 29, 2022.

 

EconomíaEspañaMundoUnión EuropeaYihadismo

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