The Spanish National Court rejected the appeal of Adrián Velásquez, former bodyguard of the late Hugo Chávez, so that he would not be extradited to the United States, which claims him for an alleged money laundering crime that he denies having committed.
This Wednesday it became known that the plenary session of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court dismissed the appeal filed by Velásquez once morest the order that gave the green light to his extradition, just a few weeks following it also approved the surrender of his wife, the former national of Venezuela Claudia Patricia Díaz Guillén.
The US Justice claims both of them for having allegedly favored businessman Raúl Gorrín, owner of Globovisión, in a plot to exchange foreign currency that earned him hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Spanish court recalls that these facts would constitute in Spain a crime of money laundering committed within a criminal organization, among others, a requirement for extradition, and denies that Velásquez has provided elements “that allow affirming that the United States has a prison structure not very compatible with the respect due to human dignity ”.
The request for extradition from the Southern District Court of Florida indicates that from 2008 to 2017 or around those dates, Gorrín and the couple participated in a corrupt ploy in connection with the exchange of foreign currency carried out for the Venezuelan government.
Authorities suspect that Gorrín paid millions of dollars in bribes to secure the right to participate in foreign currency exchange transactions, which earned him hundreds of millions of dollars.
As of 2011, the letter continues, Gorrín offered, promised, authorized and paid bribes to the then treasurer, including through her husband, to influence her in order for the businessman to carry out foreign currency exchanges for the Venezuelan government .
The defendant argued that he was rooted in Spain and that this country is investigating him for having allegedly acquired a property in Madrid with funds received from Gorrín, but the magistrates did not take these arguments into account.
