The narco-terrorism trial of a Venezuelan spy chief known as “The Chicken” has laid bare the trafficking sideline of the country’s revolutionary Bolivarian regime, which allegedly sought to “flood” America with cocaine.
After a years-long manhunt, Hugo Carvajal, a former general known in Venezuela as El Pollo because of his long neck, entered a not-guilty plea in a Manhattan court last week on charges relating to two decades of state-backed drug trafficking.
Carvajal, who once ran Venezuela’s military intelligence network, had been extradited from Spain the same week. If convicted of involvement in narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and firearms possession, the 63-year-old would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years.