Hugo Carvajal, a former Venezuelan general and intelligence chief with close ties to the late Hugo Chávez, has been extradited from Spain to the United States. He faces long-standing drug trafficking accusations in a New York federal court.

Known as "El Pollo" (The Chicken), Carvajal served as a key advisor to Chávez for over a decade. He later publicly broke with Chávez's successor, Nicolás Maduro, and aligned himself with the US-backed opposition. In a dramatic video message, he urged the Venezuelan military to rebel against Maduro during widespread protests in 2019. However, the anticipated uprising failed to materialize, and Maduro's power remained firm. Carvajal subsequently fled to Spain to avoid arrest in Venezuela.

Carvajal's extradition follows a lengthy legal process that began with his initial arrest in Spain in 2019. He disappeared while out on bail after being alerted to an impending extradition ruling, but was later apprehended in 2021. He continued to fight extradition through various appeals and a request for political asylum, all of which were ultimately unsuccessful. Jorge Rodriguez, a close ally of Maduro and President of the National Assembly, has called for Carvajal's extradition to Venezuela to face separate criminal charges there.

US prosecutors allege that Carvajal leveraged his position to orchestrate the shipment of approximately 12,300 pounds of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006. He is also accused of providing weapons and financial support to the FARC guerrillas in Colombia, facilitating cocaine shipments through Venezuela destined for the United States. In 2020, Maduro and several other high-ranking Venezuelan officials, along with Colombian rebel leaders, were added to the narco-terrorism conspiracy case. One co-defendant, General Cliver Alcala, who had also broken with Maduro, recently pleaded guilty to lesser charges related to aiding the rebel group.