Former Chavista intelligence chief Hugo "El Pollo" Carvajal agrees to collaborate with the US and hand over information on the regime to reduce his sentence

Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, known as "El Pollo" and former head of Chavismo's military counterintelligence and one of the men who knows the most secrets about the Venezuelan regime, has taken a strategic turn in his judicial process in the United States. After years of denying the charges against him, he has now decided to collaborate with the Department of Justice and become a witness, offering sensitive information about Chavismo's clandestine operations, including alleged financing of far-left movements in Latin America and Europe.

He pleads guilty and offers cooperation

On June 25, Carvajal pleaded guilty to four counts of drug trafficking and narcoterrorism before federal judge Alvin K. Hellerstein. Hellerstein in the Southern District Court of New York. He admitted to having participated in the so-called Cartel of the Suns, a criminal structure made up of high-ranking Venezuelan military officials that allegedly used the State to traffic cocaine on a large scale to the United States.

However, the real news is not in his admission of guilt but in his decision to cooperate to reduce his sentence. The court authorized a special pre-sentencing hearing to assess the value of the information he may provide to US authorities. Without cooperation, he could receive life imprisonment; with substantial assistance, he could get a much lesser sentence.

Offers information on international political financing

Carvajal had already suggested in 2021, before Spain's Audiencia Nacional, that the Venezuelan regime illegally financed leftist parties and leaders in several countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Spain. Now, according to sources quoted by the Spanish media outlet The Objective, the former intelligence chief would be willing to hand over documentary evidence in the United States.

This evidence would include internal reports and official communications describing how Chavismo would have sent money abroad for at least 15 years as part of a geopolitical strategy designed by Hugo Chávez and continued by Nicolás Maduro. That money would have been channeled through diplomats, front companies, foundations, and diplomatic pouches.

According to close sources quoted by media outlets such as The Objective, Carvajal would also be prepared to give details about deals with the FARC and other armed groups.