Retired Chavista general Hugo “el Pollo” Carvajal refused this Friday to hand over statements to the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia in the case against presidential candidate Gustavo Petro.
In a room of the Spanish Court, before members of the Sixth Investigating Court of Madrid, and summoned by the magistrate Cristina Lombana, Carvajal was questioned about the alleged Petro campaign finance by the regime of Hugo Chávez and later by Nicolás Maduro.
Time It established in the first place that the former Venezuelan official stated that he had nothing to say either in Spain or before the Colombian justice system. He remembered that he was in an extradition process to the United States.
The hearing was called after the ex-military assured that he had evidence of the delivery of corruption money from the regime to several leftist candidates in Latin America, including Petro. His statements led the candidate of the Historical Pact to request that he be investigated for these syndications.
The questions that were asked
Carvajal arrived at the courtroom, elegantly dressed, with his Spanish lawyer and listened carefully to Judge Lombana.
In fact, he managed to answer two questions from former magistrate Julio César Ortiz, Petro’s lawyer.
“Do you know Mr. Gustavo Petro by sight or have you had any contact with him?” Ortiz asked. And Carvajal responded for the first time that he was not going to give statements in Spain or to Colombian justice because he was in an extradition process to the United States.
Despite this, Ortiz insisted: “Did you have direct knowledge or through an intermediary or hearsay that Mr. Petro received money for his campaigns?”
And he got the same answer again.
“Mr. Carvajal refrained from giving statements about Gustavo Petro,” he told El Time former magistrate Ortiz when leaving the hearing that lasted two hours by the protocol facilities.
What has Carvajal said about Petro?
Carvajal has said he has a way to prove that with the looting of Venezuela, a strategy was deployed to spread the germ of the Chavista left in several countries, including Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia.
Carvajal, 61, pointed to the Venezuelan state oil company as being “the petty cash” of the regime and that with its funds “deliveries of between 100,000 and 200,000 euros” were made to leaders of Podemos.
Those and other contributions, he said, moved in diplomatic bags, lined with tape that customs did not review.
“While I was director of military intelligence and counterintelligence, I received a large number of reports indicating that this international financing was taking place. Specific examples: Néstor Kirchner, in Argentina; Evo Morales, in Bolivia; Lula da Silva, in Brazil; Fernando Lugo, in Paraguay; Ollanta Humala, in Peru; Zelaya, in Honduras; Gustavo Petro, in Colombia; Five Star Movement, in Italy, and Podemos, in Spain. All of these were listed as recipients of money sent by the Venezuelan government,” Carvajal wrote in a document revealed by OK Daily.
To this is added that Diosdado Cabello, the second man of the regime, publicly assured that Petro had gone to ask them for money for his campaign.
4. During the hearing, “Pollo Carvajal” also pointed out that he does not trust the officials of the National High Court.
5. Senator and Presidential Candidate @petrogustavowas legally represented at said hearing by his lawyer Julio César Ortíz (@JulioCesaOrtiz)– Andrés Hernández (@AndresCamiloHR) April 22, 2022
The campaign reaction
minutes after Time revealed the result of the diligence, the Petro campaign sent a statement on the subject.
“About the Pollo Carvajal hearing: the senator and candidate had asked for an investigation into the statements that Mr. Hugo Carvajal had pointed out at the time about having received money from Chavismo for the 2018 campaign. The hearing was held today where he abstained to testify against Petro, he indicates that he will not do so neither in Colombia nor before the Spanish justice system, he indicates that he does not trust the National High Court and that he was taken by force to testify. The non-declaration of Pollo Carvajal would mean that there is no evidence against Petro and that it would be another way (like many others) of trying to attack Gustavo Petro and hinder his campaign for the presidency ».
However, Carvajal has said thate has evidence on that financing of the regime to various candidates in Latin America. And close associates of the former general assure that he will use it to obtain benefits in the United States where he awaits a sentence of several years.
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