Spains High Court Extradition Refusal Of Accused Drug Smuggler

Spain’s High Court ruled today that the government should refuse a request from the United States to extradite Venezuela’s former military intelligence chief. 

Former General Hugo Carvajal was arrested on drug trafficking charges by Spanish police in April at the request of the USA, who says it believes he will share incriminating information about Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

The court allowed Carvajal to be freed from jail, where he has been held pending the extradition process, although no release date was advised at this stage.

Whilst The Spanish government has the final say on extraditions, it tends to follow the Spanish high court rulings rather than getting involved.

Carvajal has always denied accusations he helped rebels smuggle cocaine to the United States.

At last week’s hearing in Madrid Carvajal claimed all the charges were trumped up against him by the USA and he will never cooperate with them again.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) the Court will explain their reasons for not allowing Carvajal to be extradited to the US to face the drug smuggling charges.