2023-07-21 05:07:12
A former director of Venezuelan military intelligence pleaded not guilty on Thursday to drug trafficking charges in the United States, after more than 10 years of efforts by the US Department of Justice to bring him to US soil.
Hugo Carvajal, 63, arrived in the United States on Wednesday after being extradited from Spain. He pleaded not guilty at a hearing before Judge Stewart Aaron in federal court in Manhattan.
He was detained and his next hearing was scheduled for July 25.
Carvajal’s attorney, Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, said he will file a request for his client to be released on bail at a later date. Margulis-Ohnuma said Carvajal is “categorically innocent” of the charges.
“General Carvajal looks forward to facing these outrageous charges in court before an impartial American jury,” Margulis-Ohnuma told reporters after the hearing.
Federal prosecutors say Carvajal — who was former President Hugo Chávez’s eyes and ears in the country’s military for more than a decade — coordinated the 2006 shipment of 5,600 kilograms of cocaine from Venezuela to Mexico.
The drugs were destined for the United States, according to prosecutors.
By Luc Cohen
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