Fugitive Venezuela ex-intel chief had plastic surgery to avoid being caught

[schumi]

Known as 'El Pollo', or 'The Chicken', he went missing just days after a Spanish court in November 2019 approved a request for his extradition to the United States.

Venezuela’s former military intelligence chief, who has been arrested in Madrid after nearly two years on the run, underwent plastic surgery and used disguises to avoid being caught, Spanish police said Friday.

Officers arrested General Hugo Armando Carvajal, who served as intelligence chief under the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and is wanted in the United States on drug charges, late on Thursday at a Madrid apartment.

Known as “El Pollo”, or “The Chicken”, he went missing just days after a Spanish court in November 2019 approved a request for his extradition to the United States.

Carvajal told police he had remained in Spain this whole time and changed residences every three months and lived “completely shut-in, without going out into the streets at any moment,” Spain’s National Police said in a statement.

“In addition there is evidence that he underwent several cosmetic surgery operations to chance his appearance and used all types of disguises” such as fake moustaches and beards as well as wigs, the statement added.

More at: https://www.citizen.co.za/news/news...ef-had-plastic-surgery-to-avoid-being-caught/

 

[Gordon_R]

I couldn't figure out why he was in Spain. Turns out this case has a long and convoluted history. Article from 2019:

Venezuela's ex-spy chief arrested in Madrid on US warrant

Venezuela's longtime spy chief has been arrested in Madrid by Spanish police acting on a United States warrant for allegedly trafficking tons of cocaine

abcnews.go.com

In 2014, he became the highest-ranking Venezuelan official ever arrested on a U.S. drug warrant. But authorities in the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, where Carvajal was serving as Venezuela's consul, refused to extradite him under intense pressure from Maduro.

Carvajal, known in his country by the nickname "El Pollo (the Chicken)" eventually returned home, where Maduro received him as a hero, but soon after took a low-key presence in the country's turbulent politics. In 2017, he broke with the Venezuelan government over Maduro's plans to create a constitutional assembly that gutted what was left of the opposition-controlled congress.

 

[Grant]

the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, Carvajal was serving as Venezuela's consul,

Oh my
I wonder if we have representation there.

/submits cv

 

[Gordon_R]

Oh my
I wonder if we have representation there.

/submits cv

Aruba is a tiny Dutch controlled island in the Caribbean, adjacent to Venezuela. It's like South Africa having an ambassador to Lesotho. Very few other countries would have any representatives there (or tourists).

 

[BeerIsNotGood...]

@schumi you ever gonna finish that donut?

 

[Grant]

Aruba is a tiny Dutch controlled island in the Caribbean, adjacent to Venezuela. It's like South Africa having an ambassador to Lesotho. Very few other countries would have any representatives there (or tourists).

I dont care.
Send me to aruba

 

[DapperDanMan]

Turns out this case has a long and convoluted history.

Los Pollos Hermanos