US: Ex-Venezuelan general pleads guilty to drug trafficking

A former head of Venezuela's military intelligence pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and narcoterrorism charges a week before his trial was set to begin in a United States federal court.

Hugo Carvajal — a close aide of the country's late President Hugo Chavez — on Wednesday pleaded guilty to four criminal counts, including narcoterrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine and weapons charges.

The indictment accused the retired major general of leading a cartel composed of senior Venezuelan military officers that attempted to "flood" the US with cocaine in collusion with leftist guerrillas from neighbouring Colombia.

The 65-year-old faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Carvajal's sentencing is slated for October.

Extradited from Spain after 10 years on the run

Nicknamed "El Pollo," Spanish for "the chicken," Carvajal advised Chavez for over a decade and was considered one of the most powerful figures of the socialist leader's rule.

The spymaster later broke with current President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's chosen successor, to support the US-backed political opposition.

In 2023, Carvajal was extradited from Spain after being on the run from US law enforcement for more than 10 years.

"The deeply troubling reality is that there are powerful foreign government officials who conspire to flood the United States with drugs that kill and debilitate," Jay Clayton, the interim US attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement on Wednesday.