A former top Venezuelan military intelligence chief has pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court to narco-terrorism conspiracy, drug-trafficking and weapons charges, piling further US pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro.
Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios, AKA "El Pollo" or "The Chicken," was the director of Venezuela's military intelligence under presidents Hugo Chávez and Maduro. On Wednesday, days before his trial was set to begin, he pleaded guilty to four federal counts, related to accusations that he helped lead a drug-trafficking group within the Venezuelan government.
"Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios was once one of the most powerful men in Venezuela. For years, he and other officials... used cocaine as a weapon -- flooding New York and other American cities with poison," said US attorney Jay Clayton.
Carvajal turned against Maduro in 2019 and supported a failed coup that year led by opposition leader Juan Guaidó. Maduro stayed in power but the Trump administration at the time recognized Guadió as the legitimate leader of the country.
Despite his opposition to Maduro, Carvajal was already under investigation by the US government: in 2020, the justice department released an indictment against him and other top Venezuelan leaders - including Maduro, himself - accusing them of narco-terrorism crimes and of running the Cartel of the Suns. He was eventually extradited to the US from Spain in 2023.
The US indictment alleges that from 1999 through 2020, Maduro, Carvajal and top government officials "participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy" between the Cartel of the Suns and the former Colombian rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), to traffic cocaine to the US. Farc was previously classified as a terrorist organization by the US government before most of its members laid down their weapons in a historic 2016 peace process.
Although the US government claims the Cartel of the Suns is a structured and government-run drug-trafficking group, analysts claim that it is more of a "network of networks" of various drug-trafficking groups protected by elements within the Venezuelan state.
The Miami Herald, citing unnamed sources, reported that Carvajal is potentially collaborating with the US government to provide information about Maduro's drug-trafficking activities, the Tren de Aragua gang and Venezuela's ties to Iran.
Details of his potential collaboration may be revealed during his sentencing hearing in October. He is facing life in prison for each count.
Co-defendants in the Cartel of the Suns case include Maduro, the Venezuelan interior minister and two former Farc leaders -including one who was killed in a mysterious operation by the Colombian military.
As one of the last Latin America-related acts of the Biden administration this January, the US government raised its bounty for Maduro and his interior minister to $25m, related to the narco-terrorism case.
One of Carvajal's co-defendants was sentenced last year to more than 21 years in prison. Cliver Alcalá , a former Venezuelan general who opposed Maduro, pleaded guilty in 2023 for providing support to Farc.
This case has the potential to uncover details of US operations in Venezuela, including information about alleged US-backed attempts to oust Maduro.
In a letter to the New York court, Alcalá's attorneys have claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency, Drug Enforcement Administration, and National Security Council were aware of a fumbled 2020 plot to overthrow Maduro.
That failed plot, deemed the Bay of Piglets, was foiled by Venezuelan security forces. Government officials arrested a number Venezuelan dissidents and two American former Green Berets, working as mercenaries for Silvercorp, a US security firm.