Thursday, September 12, 2019
At least 2,500 people registered as missing in the Bahamas; oil spill spreads
Jacqueline Charles. Miami
Herald. September 11, 2019
At least 2,500 people have been registered as missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, the Bahamas government said Wednesday, as it confirmed that oil from tanks damaged by the storm had spread along the coast of Grand Bahama.
The National Emergency Management Agency became aware of the oil spill as soon as it was able to fly over Grand Bahama, and alerted the Norwegian company, Equinor, that owns and manages the facility, said spokesperson Carl Smith.
“They indicated that they are aware of it and they had already taken steps to mobilize a response to the spill,” said Smith, speaking at a press conference. “The company that owns the facility has a responsibility to respond and they are working in tandem to address the oil spill, they are not working at cross-purposes.”
The oil spill first became apparent on Friday. Equinor’s oil facility is located on the shore of the eastern end of Grand Bahama, which was slammed by Dorian when the storm parked itself over the island with winds in excess of 165 miles per hour and life-threatening rains.
Evan Cartwright, an architect with the Bahamas Ministry of Works, told the Miami Herald Friday that the oil from the facility had made its way into the area’s drinking water supply.
“Oil is everywhere,” he said. “In the ocean, drinking water.”
During the daily briefing Wednesday, officials said water supply remains limited. Desalination is posing a challenge. Samples of water have been sent off to labs to test for salt water intrusion.
Officials warned that Bahamians are still in the peak of hurricane season, and they should expect heavy rainfall and gusty winds through the weekend as a new system moves across the islands. The storm has a low chance of developing, officials said.
Smith said the 2,500 people on a government registry for the missing had not been checked against government records of people staying in shelters or evacuated. At least 5,500 people, Smith said, had been evacuated to Nassau, where officials were adding additional tents to accommodate evacuees. He said the list could decrease as they reunite family members and as individuals who evacuated from Abaco and Grand Bahama register with social services.
Greg Smith, a resident of Grand Bahama and the former president of the chamber of commerce, is among those trying to find the body of a relative. He lost an aunt in the storm when she lost her grip as they were passing one of her grandchildren to her on the roof of a house to escape the rising water.
Smith said he’s received images of bodies in body bags being brought into the local morgue.
“There has been quite a bit of bodies coming and going into the morgue,” he said on Friday. “I don’t know the amount. We don’t know what the death toll will ultimately be.”
Smith, the NEMA spokesperson, pushed back against criticism about a lack of government presence in Grand Bahama, where some people are complaining about aid not getting to survivors.
“There’s no such thing as the government or NEMA not having a presence on the ground,” he said.
He urged charities and non-governmental organizations who want to help evacuees to work directly with them, as “NEMA is focused on coordinating shelters and other support so Bahamians do not need to leave their home country.“
NEMA also noted that counseling was being provided to those searching for family members.
A representative from Bahamas Power and Light said the company anticipates restoring power to the southern part of Abaco in three weeks. The company has not completed assessment of the 15 affected cays, which could take months to restore.
At least 2,500 people have been registered as missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, the Bahamas government said Wednesday, as it confirmed that oil from tanks damaged by the storm had spread along the coast of Grand Bahama.
The National Emergency Management Agency became aware of the oil spill as soon as it was able to fly over Grand Bahama, and alerted the Norwegian company, Equinor, that owns and manages the facility, said spokesperson Carl Smith.
“They indicated that they are aware of it and they had already taken steps to mobilize a response to the spill,” said Smith, speaking at a press conference. “The company that owns the facility has a responsibility to respond and they are working in tandem to address the oil spill, they are not working at cross-purposes.”
The oil spill first became apparent on Friday. Equinor’s oil facility is located on the shore of the eastern end of Grand Bahama, which was slammed by Dorian when the storm parked itself over the island with winds in excess of 165 miles per hour and life-threatening rains.
Evan Cartwright, an architect with the Bahamas Ministry of Works, told the Miami Herald Friday that the oil from the facility had made its way into the area’s drinking water supply.
“Oil is everywhere,” he said. “In the ocean, drinking water.”
During the daily briefing Wednesday, officials said water supply remains limited. Desalination is posing a challenge. Samples of water have been sent off to labs to test for salt water intrusion.
Officials warned that Bahamians are still in the peak of hurricane season, and they should expect heavy rainfall and gusty winds through the weekend as a new system moves across the islands. The storm has a low chance of developing, officials said.
Smith said the 2,500 people on a government registry for the missing had not been checked against government records of people staying in shelters or evacuated. At least 5,500 people, Smith said, had been evacuated to Nassau, where officials were adding additional tents to accommodate evacuees. He said the list could decrease as they reunite family members and as individuals who evacuated from Abaco and Grand Bahama register with social services.
Greg Smith, a resident of Grand Bahama and the former president of the chamber of commerce, is among those trying to find the body of a relative. He lost an aunt in the storm when she lost her grip as they were passing one of her grandchildren to her on the roof of a house to escape the rising water.
Smith said he’s received images of bodies in body bags being brought into the local morgue.
“There has been quite a bit of bodies coming and going into the morgue,” he said on Friday. “I don’t know the amount. We don’t know what the death toll will ultimately be.”
Smith, the NEMA spokesperson, pushed back against criticism about a lack of government presence in Grand Bahama, where some people are complaining about aid not getting to survivors.
“There’s no such thing as the government or NEMA not having a presence on the ground,” he said.
He urged charities and non-governmental organizations who want to help evacuees to work directly with them, as “NEMA is focused on coordinating shelters and other support so Bahamians do not need to leave their home country.“
NEMA also noted that counseling was being provided to those searching for family members.
A representative from Bahamas Power and Light said the company anticipates restoring power to the southern part of Abaco in three weeks. The company has not completed assessment of the 15 affected cays, which could take months to restore.
Argentinian protesters occupy Buenos Aires over food crisis
AFP. September 12, 2019
Several thousand protesters camped Wednesday in downtown Buenos Aires to demand Argentina declare a food emergency as the economic crisis deepened just weeks ahead of the presidential election.
The demonstrators, who plan to camp for 48 hours in the heart of the city, say rampant inflation has left many of the poorest Argentinians struggling to buy food.
"Argentina is devastated by inaction, hunger, and poverty, and we demand answers that live up to the situation," organizer Eduardo Belliboni said. "We want social programs, we want to increase allocations for existing programs and increase food rations in schools," he added.
Clashes broke out with police as demonstrators tried to block public transport networks.
On Thursday, Argentinian lawmakers will consider a "food emergency" bill, presented by the opposition, that would allow more funds to be allocated to manage the increasingly desperate situation.
But President Mauricio Macri's center-right government is opposed to the proposal, saying that it has already taken other emergency measures -- such as the elimination of basic food taxes.
The country has been in a recession since last year, and has one of the highest inflation rates in the world, running at more than 54 percent.
Argentina's economic crisis has seen the peso lose half its value, unemployment soar and the economy shrink by 5.8 percent in the first quarter. Argentines have seen their earnings, savings and purchasing power diminished.
It is among the Latin American countries where hunger increased most during 2018, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, and seeing families begging on the streets of the capital has become usual.
The country's economic woes intensified after shock primary elections in August saw Macri suffer a crushing defeat, sending markets into a tailspin and leading the government to impose foreign-exchange controls and request a rescheduling of its debt.
The results indicate that Macri's bid for reelection next month now appears in serious jeopardy.
Several thousand protesters camped Wednesday in downtown Buenos Aires to demand Argentina declare a food emergency as the economic crisis deepened just weeks ahead of the presidential election.
The demonstrators, who plan to camp for 48 hours in the heart of the city, say rampant inflation has left many of the poorest Argentinians struggling to buy food.
"Argentina is devastated by inaction, hunger, and poverty, and we demand answers that live up to the situation," organizer Eduardo Belliboni said. "We want social programs, we want to increase allocations for existing programs and increase food rations in schools," he added.
Clashes broke out with police as demonstrators tried to block public transport networks.
On Thursday, Argentinian lawmakers will consider a "food emergency" bill, presented by the opposition, that would allow more funds to be allocated to manage the increasingly desperate situation.
But President Mauricio Macri's center-right government is opposed to the proposal, saying that it has already taken other emergency measures -- such as the elimination of basic food taxes.
The country has been in a recession since last year, and has one of the highest inflation rates in the world, running at more than 54 percent.
Argentina's economic crisis has seen the peso lose half its value, unemployment soar and the economy shrink by 5.8 percent in the first quarter. Argentines have seen their earnings, savings and purchasing power diminished.
It is among the Latin American countries where hunger increased most during 2018, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, and seeing families begging on the streets of the capital has become usual.
The country's economic woes intensified after shock primary elections in August saw Macri suffer a crushing defeat, sending markets into a tailspin and leading the government to impose foreign-exchange controls and request a rescheduling of its debt.
The results indicate that Macri's bid for reelection next month now appears in serious jeopardy.
Crushing it: Argentine farmers cheer China soymeal deal while U.S. growers fret
Hugh Bronstein, Tom Polansek.
Reuters. September 11, 2019
Argentine soy farmers and crushers expect a boost in demand next year after the South American grains giant won long-sought approval from China to export soymeal to the world’s biggest consumer of the livestock feed.
Argentina, the top international supplier of soymeal, announced on Tuesday that China would allow imports for the first time following decades of talks. It was a breakthrough amid a whipsawing trade war between Washington and Beijing that has hit U.S. growers.
The deal, formalized in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, paves the way for Argentine farmers and soy processors to send shipments to China from early 2020 once required plant approvals and registrations have been made, a fillip for the world’s dominant soymeal producer.
“This news is huge for our country given the magnitude and potential of the new market,” the Rosario grains exchange said. The majority of Argentina’s soy is grown and crushed in the area around Rosario, on the banks of the Parana River.
“(It) will allow exports to the Asian country to kick in effectively from next year.”
China consumes an estimated 67.3 million tonnes of soymeal each year to feed its giant hog herd, the Rosario exchange said, though it has imported only small amounts of the processed soy product, preferring to crush the beans domestically.
This has meant that while China has been the top buyer of raw Argentine soybeans, it has long resisted opening up to soymeal. Argentina’s top export markets for the feed are currently Europe, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
Gustavo Idigoras, president of Argentina’s CIARA-CEC chamber of grains exporting companies, said he did not expect Argentina to “export an important volume to China in the first year.”
“But for us, having 2 or 3 million tonnes in the market in 2020 would be symbolic in terms of building confidence and developing future business,” he said.
Argentine soy farmers and crushers expect a boost in demand next year after the South American grains giant won long-sought approval from China to export soymeal to the world’s biggest consumer of the livestock feed.
Argentina, the top international supplier of soymeal, announced on Tuesday that China would allow imports for the first time following decades of talks. It was a breakthrough amid a whipsawing trade war between Washington and Beijing that has hit U.S. growers.
The deal, formalized in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, paves the way for Argentine farmers and soy processors to send shipments to China from early 2020 once required plant approvals and registrations have been made, a fillip for the world’s dominant soymeal producer.
“This news is huge for our country given the magnitude and potential of the new market,” the Rosario grains exchange said. The majority of Argentina’s soy is grown and crushed in the area around Rosario, on the banks of the Parana River.
“(It) will allow exports to the Asian country to kick in effectively from next year.”
China consumes an estimated 67.3 million tonnes of soymeal each year to feed its giant hog herd, the Rosario exchange said, though it has imported only small amounts of the processed soy product, preferring to crush the beans domestically.
This has meant that while China has been the top buyer of raw Argentine soybeans, it has long resisted opening up to soymeal. Argentina’s top export markets for the feed are currently Europe, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
Gustavo Idigoras, president of Argentina’s CIARA-CEC chamber of grains exporting companies, said he did not expect Argentina to “export an important volume to China in the first year.”
“But for us, having 2 or 3 million tonnes in the market in 2020 would be symbolic in terms of building confidence and developing future business,” he said.
The rise and fall of former Venezuelan spymaster ‘El Pollo’
ARITZ PARRA and JOSHUA
GOODMAN. Reuters. September 11,2019
The two intelligence agents scoured the sun-kissed faces of holidaymakers at Madrid’s airport until they spotted the 5½-foot bald man. Traveling under a disguised identity, Hugo Chávez’s long-time spy chief and one of the U.S.’s most wanted drug fugitives had just landed in Spain that Monday morning in March.
Nicknamed “El Pollo” (“The Chicken”), retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal had traveled from the Dominican Republic after breaking ranks with Venezuela’s socialist administration and supporting Juan Guaidó, the U.S.-backed opposition leader. From the Spanish capital he hoped to leverage contacts and knowledge of the Venezuelan deep state to mount a military-backed rebellion against President Nicolás Maduro.
Five months later, the former spymaster is in deep trouble.
To the frustration of many in the opposition who have secretly tried to flip senior members of Venezuela’s military, Carvajal was arrested days before a failed barracks rebellion on April 30. On Thursday, judges in Madrid will consider whether to extradite him to the U.S. to face federal charges of cocaine trafficking.
Carvajal’s fate is being closely followed by others in the Venezuelan security forces looking to defect. If somebody like the former spy, accused of collaborating with terrorist groups and smuggling several tons shipments of drugs into the U.S., could find redemption, there would be hope for others as well.
The U.S. has promised senior Venezuelan officials they will be rewarded and see sanctions lifted if they turn decisively against Maduro. The Trump administration’s special envoy on Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, even suggested Spain could be a safe retirement destination for Maduro’s allies.
But a major wrinkle is that U.S. prosecutors, operating independently from Washington’s political calculations, have spent years building cases against some of the very same would-be turncoats.
The account of Carvajal’s low-key, cordial reception in Spain was provided to The Associated Press by four officials in Spain and the U.S., as well as a half dozen relatives and associates of Carvajal. They agreed to speak only if granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Carvajal insists he is a victim of political persecution despite what U.S. law enforcement describes as an abundance of evidence against him.
In answers to written questions sent to him in a Spanish jail, he speculated that the “narcoterrorism” charges are payback for his proximity to Chávez, the late Venezuelan leader and prominent foe of the U.S. government. With Maduro under pressure, Carvajal says, he wants to share information on state-backed drug trafficking, corruption and terror-related activities that have allegedly proliferated in Venezuela in recent years.
“I’m not looking for any kind of amnesty from anybody, not from the U.S. nor from Venezuela,” Carvajal wrote. “I’m looking for justice.”
___
Prosecutors in New York and Miami have a different idea of what justice would mean for Carvajal.
They accuse the former general of being a prominent member of the “Cartel of the Suns,” an alleged drug-smuggling ring involving Venezuela’s military. The group’s name comes from the “sun” insignia that adorn generals’ uniforms in Venezuela.
Carvajal, 59, who narrowly escaped extradition when he was arrested in Aruba in 2014 while serving as Maduro’s consul general to the Dutch Caribbean island, could this time spend the rest of his life behind bars if he is tried and convicted in the U.S.
The case centers on a DC-9 jet from Caracas that landed in southern Mexico in 2006 with 5.6 tons of cocaine packed into 128 suitcases. Carvajal said that judicial probes in Venezuela and Mexico never linked him to the incident and that the alleged plane owner backs his alibi.
But he faces incriminating evidence from phone records, drug ledgers and the testimony of at least 10 witnesses, according to an affidavit from a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent. Those witnesses include members and associates of the “Cartel of the Suns,” former high-ranking Venezuelan officials, according to the affidavit.
The DEA agent also says a former judge attended a 2005 meeting at the Miraflores presidential palace with Chávez, Carvajal and two loyalists who are now key to Maduro’s political survival: socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello and former Vice President Tarek El Aissami. The meeting was meant to be the first of monthly sessions that Chávez allegedly used “to promote his policy objectives, including to combat the United States by flooding the country with cocaine,” reads the affidavit accompanying Carvajal’s extradition request.
In his written answers from prison, the former general scoffed at the allegation. Even if that was Chávez’s intention, he said, “does anyone really think the president publicly plans his misdeeds at a meeting in Miraflores? For God’s sake.”
The U.S. indictment also repeats an accusation that Carvajal provided guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, with weapons and protection inside Venezuela.
The former spy chief says his contacts with the FARC — designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization — were authorized by Chávez and limited to securing the release of a kidnapped Venezuelan businessman and paving the way for peace talks with the Colombian government.
He told AP that accusations against him rely on the “false testimony” of convicts.
“The only intention of the agencies that fabricated this fraud has been to obtain the information they know that I possess,” he wrote.
The DEA declined to comment.
___
Are there really any secrets left untold?
Carvajal declined to disclose to AP any purported intelligence on Maduro’s inner circle. He said only that informants have updated him on “criminal” activity by the Maduro government after he retired from the military counter-intelligence agency in 2014.
Any such evidence could more firmly establish alleged links between Venezuelan officials and Colombian rebels as well as Hezbollah and other groups.
The former spy chief recently accused Maduro of facilitating the re-arming of a FARC faction in order to destabilize neighboring Colombia. He has disclosed little to back his claims.
“It’s a serious matter that I will discuss with an officer of the appropriate rank if they give me the opportunity,” he told AP.
Some are skeptical.
A Spanish official who helps shape policy toward Venezuela described Carvajal as a “total bluff” who promised more than he could deliver. The official said that while Spanish officials spoke to Carvajal, they didn’t give him any protection guarantees.
A senior U.S. official said Carvajal, who released a video urging Venezuelan troops to recognize Guaidó as their commander in chief, tried to reach out to the United States with the help of some in Venezuela’s opposition.
But the Trump administration’s hands were tied because of the drug indictments, and Carvajal’s decision to flee to Spain was his alone, the official said. The official also cast doubt on Carvajal’s account of his efforts to promote democracy in Venezuela.
In May, things worked out for another Venezuelan conspirator: Gen. Manuel Cristopher Figuera, head of the SEBIN intelligence police, who U.S. officials said helped to promote a failed military uprising against Maduro. The U.S. lifted sanctions that had been imposed on Figuera for allegedly overseeing human rights violations and persecuting Venezuela’s opposition. He is now in the United States.
___
Before Carvajal became an international drug fugitive he was a trusted soldier. As Chávez cemented his “Bolivarian revolution” following his 1998 election victory, he promoted loyalists. They included Carvajal, who had joined an army academy when he was 13 and, at age 31, joined Chávez in a coup attempt.
Chávez tapped Carvajal to head Venezuela’s Military Intelligence Directorate, where he oversaw its transformation into an agency focused on stamping out internal dissent. But he also earned the enmity of the U.S. by supporting Chavez’s decision to sever ties to the DEA, accusing them of spying, and for the alleged murder of an intelligence agent who was secretly working as a double agent for the U.S anti-drug agency.
Carvajal carried a phone with an exclusive line to the president. Sometimes, Chávez asked his driver to get out of the car so he could drive Carvajal around Caracas while the pair talked in private.
In 2013, Chávez died of cancer and Maduro became president. The new leader replaced Carvajal a few months later and appointed him as consul in Aruba, distant from the center of power in Caracas.
On the Dutch Caribbean island, Carvajal made headlines when he was arrested on a U.S. drug warrant. After much maneuvering and diplomatic pressure from Caracas, he was freed and ushered home to a national hero’s welcome.
___
Soon after, Carvajal started reconsidering his loyalties.
In 2017, Venezuela was engulfed in turmoil, including mass protests against Maduro as the economy deteriorated. Carvajal, by then a ruling party lawmaker, opposed Maduro’s plans to create a rubber-stamp constitutional assembly rivaling the opposition-controlled congress.
Still, he mostly stayed silent until earlier this year, when Guaidó, head of the congress, laid claim to Venezuela’s presidency and declared Maduro an illegitimate ruler. At the time, Carvajal was the most influential figure from Venezuela’s military establishment to back the gambit, turning to social media to urge the armed forces into action.
Guaidó praised Carvajal, who had planned his escape from his former comrades in the Venezuelan security forces.
He traveled by sea to the Dominican Republic and flew on an Air Europa flight, arriving in Madrid on March 18 on a Venezuelan passport bearing an assumed name, José Mouriño Olsen. The welcoming intelligence officials led him to a black van. Soon, he was reunited with his wife and other relatives.
Days later, Carvajal met at a hotel near the headquarters of Spain’s intelligence agency with the two agents and three other experts on Venezuela.
The meeting was preliminary and barely touched on the Venezuelan situation, someone who was present told AP. But Carvajal promised to furnish valuable information in exchange for legal arrangements allowing him to remain in Spain, said two people familiar with his movements.
Officials at the Spanish intelligence agency declined to comment on the meeting.
Carvajal did not comment on it either. He said he traveled to Spain because he wanted to bring about change in Venezuela, not to seek protection.
But one attendee said Carvajal miscalculated that he would somehow be safe from a U.S. arrest warrant.
For several weeks, he moved around relatively untroubled. Using his disguised identity, he met in another European country with former Venezuelan oil czar Rafael Ramírez, in hiding since breaking with Maduro’s government. Carvajal said he went to “confirm some intelligence matters” at that encounter.
Then, on April 11, a federal prosecutor in New York issued a warrant with specifics about his location. The next day, two Spanish police officers in plainclothes stopped the former general with his wife as they were arriving from a walk to the gated compound of the family’s apartment.
“Prosecutors and the DEA agents simply did what they have been trying to do for years, which is to press me in any way possible to obtain information from me,” the ex-spymaster said, adding that he has no intention of cooperating with U.S. authorities in exchange for a shorter sentence.
With Carvajal’s extradition pending, some Maduro opponents wonder whether it is too late to reverse political damage from his arrest.
“The U.S. has really sent mixed messages,” Ramírez said. “On the one hand the State Department and White House talk about amnesty for generals who switch sides, but then the DEA goes out and arrests someone who was actually working toward regime change. It’s almost as if they want to give Maduro arguments to keep the military loyal.”
The two intelligence agents scoured the sun-kissed faces of holidaymakers at Madrid’s airport until they spotted the 5½-foot bald man. Traveling under a disguised identity, Hugo Chávez’s long-time spy chief and one of the U.S.’s most wanted drug fugitives had just landed in Spain that Monday morning in March.
Nicknamed “El Pollo” (“The Chicken”), retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal had traveled from the Dominican Republic after breaking ranks with Venezuela’s socialist administration and supporting Juan Guaidó, the U.S.-backed opposition leader. From the Spanish capital he hoped to leverage contacts and knowledge of the Venezuelan deep state to mount a military-backed rebellion against President Nicolás Maduro.
Five months later, the former spymaster is in deep trouble.
To the frustration of many in the opposition who have secretly tried to flip senior members of Venezuela’s military, Carvajal was arrested days before a failed barracks rebellion on April 30. On Thursday, judges in Madrid will consider whether to extradite him to the U.S. to face federal charges of cocaine trafficking.
Carvajal’s fate is being closely followed by others in the Venezuelan security forces looking to defect. If somebody like the former spy, accused of collaborating with terrorist groups and smuggling several tons shipments of drugs into the U.S., could find redemption, there would be hope for others as well.
The U.S. has promised senior Venezuelan officials they will be rewarded and see sanctions lifted if they turn decisively against Maduro. The Trump administration’s special envoy on Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, even suggested Spain could be a safe retirement destination for Maduro’s allies.
But a major wrinkle is that U.S. prosecutors, operating independently from Washington’s political calculations, have spent years building cases against some of the very same would-be turncoats.
The account of Carvajal’s low-key, cordial reception in Spain was provided to The Associated Press by four officials in Spain and the U.S., as well as a half dozen relatives and associates of Carvajal. They agreed to speak only if granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Carvajal insists he is a victim of political persecution despite what U.S. law enforcement describes as an abundance of evidence against him.
In answers to written questions sent to him in a Spanish jail, he speculated that the “narcoterrorism” charges are payback for his proximity to Chávez, the late Venezuelan leader and prominent foe of the U.S. government. With Maduro under pressure, Carvajal says, he wants to share information on state-backed drug trafficking, corruption and terror-related activities that have allegedly proliferated in Venezuela in recent years.
“I’m not looking for any kind of amnesty from anybody, not from the U.S. nor from Venezuela,” Carvajal wrote. “I’m looking for justice.”
___
Prosecutors in New York and Miami have a different idea of what justice would mean for Carvajal.
They accuse the former general of being a prominent member of the “Cartel of the Suns,” an alleged drug-smuggling ring involving Venezuela’s military. The group’s name comes from the “sun” insignia that adorn generals’ uniforms in Venezuela.
Carvajal, 59, who narrowly escaped extradition when he was arrested in Aruba in 2014 while serving as Maduro’s consul general to the Dutch Caribbean island, could this time spend the rest of his life behind bars if he is tried and convicted in the U.S.
The case centers on a DC-9 jet from Caracas that landed in southern Mexico in 2006 with 5.6 tons of cocaine packed into 128 suitcases. Carvajal said that judicial probes in Venezuela and Mexico never linked him to the incident and that the alleged plane owner backs his alibi.
But he faces incriminating evidence from phone records, drug ledgers and the testimony of at least 10 witnesses, according to an affidavit from a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent. Those witnesses include members and associates of the “Cartel of the Suns,” former high-ranking Venezuelan officials, according to the affidavit.
The DEA agent also says a former judge attended a 2005 meeting at the Miraflores presidential palace with Chávez, Carvajal and two loyalists who are now key to Maduro’s political survival: socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello and former Vice President Tarek El Aissami. The meeting was meant to be the first of monthly sessions that Chávez allegedly used “to promote his policy objectives, including to combat the United States by flooding the country with cocaine,” reads the affidavit accompanying Carvajal’s extradition request.
In his written answers from prison, the former general scoffed at the allegation. Even if that was Chávez’s intention, he said, “does anyone really think the president publicly plans his misdeeds at a meeting in Miraflores? For God’s sake.”
The U.S. indictment also repeats an accusation that Carvajal provided guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, with weapons and protection inside Venezuela.
The former spy chief says his contacts with the FARC — designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization — were authorized by Chávez and limited to securing the release of a kidnapped Venezuelan businessman and paving the way for peace talks with the Colombian government.
He told AP that accusations against him rely on the “false testimony” of convicts.
“The only intention of the agencies that fabricated this fraud has been to obtain the information they know that I possess,” he wrote.
The DEA declined to comment.
___
Are there really any secrets left untold?
Carvajal declined to disclose to AP any purported intelligence on Maduro’s inner circle. He said only that informants have updated him on “criminal” activity by the Maduro government after he retired from the military counter-intelligence agency in 2014.
Any such evidence could more firmly establish alleged links between Venezuelan officials and Colombian rebels as well as Hezbollah and other groups.
The former spy chief recently accused Maduro of facilitating the re-arming of a FARC faction in order to destabilize neighboring Colombia. He has disclosed little to back his claims.
“It’s a serious matter that I will discuss with an officer of the appropriate rank if they give me the opportunity,” he told AP.
Some are skeptical.
A Spanish official who helps shape policy toward Venezuela described Carvajal as a “total bluff” who promised more than he could deliver. The official said that while Spanish officials spoke to Carvajal, they didn’t give him any protection guarantees.
A senior U.S. official said Carvajal, who released a video urging Venezuelan troops to recognize Guaidó as their commander in chief, tried to reach out to the United States with the help of some in Venezuela’s opposition.
But the Trump administration’s hands were tied because of the drug indictments, and Carvajal’s decision to flee to Spain was his alone, the official said. The official also cast doubt on Carvajal’s account of his efforts to promote democracy in Venezuela.
In May, things worked out for another Venezuelan conspirator: Gen. Manuel Cristopher Figuera, head of the SEBIN intelligence police, who U.S. officials said helped to promote a failed military uprising against Maduro. The U.S. lifted sanctions that had been imposed on Figuera for allegedly overseeing human rights violations and persecuting Venezuela’s opposition. He is now in the United States.
___
Before Carvajal became an international drug fugitive he was a trusted soldier. As Chávez cemented his “Bolivarian revolution” following his 1998 election victory, he promoted loyalists. They included Carvajal, who had joined an army academy when he was 13 and, at age 31, joined Chávez in a coup attempt.
Chávez tapped Carvajal to head Venezuela’s Military Intelligence Directorate, where he oversaw its transformation into an agency focused on stamping out internal dissent. But he also earned the enmity of the U.S. by supporting Chavez’s decision to sever ties to the DEA, accusing them of spying, and for the alleged murder of an intelligence agent who was secretly working as a double agent for the U.S anti-drug agency.
Carvajal carried a phone with an exclusive line to the president. Sometimes, Chávez asked his driver to get out of the car so he could drive Carvajal around Caracas while the pair talked in private.
In 2013, Chávez died of cancer and Maduro became president. The new leader replaced Carvajal a few months later and appointed him as consul in Aruba, distant from the center of power in Caracas.
On the Dutch Caribbean island, Carvajal made headlines when he was arrested on a U.S. drug warrant. After much maneuvering and diplomatic pressure from Caracas, he was freed and ushered home to a national hero’s welcome.
___
Soon after, Carvajal started reconsidering his loyalties.
In 2017, Venezuela was engulfed in turmoil, including mass protests against Maduro as the economy deteriorated. Carvajal, by then a ruling party lawmaker, opposed Maduro’s plans to create a rubber-stamp constitutional assembly rivaling the opposition-controlled congress.
Still, he mostly stayed silent until earlier this year, when Guaidó, head of the congress, laid claim to Venezuela’s presidency and declared Maduro an illegitimate ruler. At the time, Carvajal was the most influential figure from Venezuela’s military establishment to back the gambit, turning to social media to urge the armed forces into action.
Guaidó praised Carvajal, who had planned his escape from his former comrades in the Venezuelan security forces.
He traveled by sea to the Dominican Republic and flew on an Air Europa flight, arriving in Madrid on March 18 on a Venezuelan passport bearing an assumed name, José Mouriño Olsen. The welcoming intelligence officials led him to a black van. Soon, he was reunited with his wife and other relatives.
Days later, Carvajal met at a hotel near the headquarters of Spain’s intelligence agency with the two agents and three other experts on Venezuela.
The meeting was preliminary and barely touched on the Venezuelan situation, someone who was present told AP. But Carvajal promised to furnish valuable information in exchange for legal arrangements allowing him to remain in Spain, said two people familiar with his movements.
Officials at the Spanish intelligence agency declined to comment on the meeting.
Carvajal did not comment on it either. He said he traveled to Spain because he wanted to bring about change in Venezuela, not to seek protection.
But one attendee said Carvajal miscalculated that he would somehow be safe from a U.S. arrest warrant.
For several weeks, he moved around relatively untroubled. Using his disguised identity, he met in another European country with former Venezuelan oil czar Rafael Ramírez, in hiding since breaking with Maduro’s government. Carvajal said he went to “confirm some intelligence matters” at that encounter.
Then, on April 11, a federal prosecutor in New York issued a warrant with specifics about his location. The next day, two Spanish police officers in plainclothes stopped the former general with his wife as they were arriving from a walk to the gated compound of the family’s apartment.
“Prosecutors and the DEA agents simply did what they have been trying to do for years, which is to press me in any way possible to obtain information from me,” the ex-spymaster said, adding that he has no intention of cooperating with U.S. authorities in exchange for a shorter sentence.
With Carvajal’s extradition pending, some Maduro opponents wonder whether it is too late to reverse political damage from his arrest.
“The U.S. has really sent mixed messages,” Ramírez said. “On the one hand the State Department and White House talk about amnesty for generals who switch sides, but then the DEA goes out and arrests someone who was actually working toward regime change. It’s almost as if they want to give Maduro arguments to keep the military loyal.”
UN proposes talks to ease military tensions with Venezuela, Colombia calls on UN to invoke 9/11 resolution
Adriaan Alsema. Colomba
Reports. September 12, 2019
Colombia’s President Ivan Duque rejected a proposal of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres to ease military tensions with Venezuela through talks on Wednesday.
Guterres proposed the talks after Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro kicked off two weeks of military exercises and 11 members of the OAS agreed to invoke a 1947 pact in which OAS members vowed to defend each other in the event of an attack.
Duque, however, never recognized Maduro’s fraud-ridden reelection in January. The Colombian government and some 50 others support opposition leader Juan Guaido who controversially claims he is the legitimate president.
Guaido has tried to oust Maduro with the support of Duque and United States President Donald Trump twice this year, but failed rather pathetically.
Oblivious to reality, Duque told local press on Wednesday that he won’t talk to the commander in chief of the 150,000 troops on the Venezuelan side of the border, because he already “has excellent talks” with Guaido.
Duque’s consistent negation of reality has sunk his domestic approval rating, but this stopped being funny on Wednesday when he insisted on his government’s baseless claim that Maduro has teamed up with ELN rebels and FARC dissident leader “Ivan Marquez.”
Colombia’s President Ivan Duque rejected a proposal of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres to ease military tensions with Venezuela through talks on Wednesday.
Guterres proposed the talks after Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro kicked off two weeks of military exercises and 11 members of the OAS agreed to invoke a 1947 pact in which OAS members vowed to defend each other in the event of an attack.
Duque, however, never recognized Maduro’s fraud-ridden reelection in January. The Colombian government and some 50 others support opposition leader Juan Guaido who controversially claims he is the legitimate president.
Guaido has tried to oust Maduro with the support of Duque and United States President Donald Trump twice this year, but failed rather pathetically.
Oblivious to reality, Duque told local press on Wednesday that he won’t talk to the commander in chief of the 150,000 troops on the Venezuelan side of the border, because he already “has excellent talks” with Guaido.
Duque’s consistent negation of reality has sunk his domestic approval rating, but this stopped being funny on Wednesday when he insisted on his government’s baseless claim that Maduro has teamed up with ELN rebels and FARC dissident leader “Ivan Marquez.”
Colombia takes ‘criminal threat’ conspiracy theory to OAS
Claims that Venezuela’s military has colluded with the ELN precede Duque’s presidency, but there exists no indication that Marquez is aligned with but the dozen FARC commanders he abandoned Colombia’s peace process with two weeks ago.
In response to the UN secretary general’s call for dialogue, Duque called on the UN Security Council to invoke resolution 1373 that allowed the US to invade Afghanistan in response to the terrorist attacks on New York City on September 11, 2001.
The UN Security Council, however, is monitoring a peace process to end Colombia’s internal armed conflict, making Duque’s proposal to turn his country’s peace process into an international armed conflict hilarious had it not been for Venezuela’s military superiority and the risks of civil war in both countries.
Medellin could be Latin America’s largest mass grave, Colombia’s war crimes tribunal finds out
Adriaan Alsema. Colomba Reports. September 9, 2019
Recent findings of Colombia’s war crimes tribunal indicate that Medellin has been trying to hide the fact it is Latin America’s largest mass grave and may have been falsifying homicide rates for propaganda purposes.
The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) last week ordered to inspect two quarries where, according to a local court, more than 300 people are buried.
The city’s authorities reluctantly told the court it had buried at least 900 homicide victims at the municipal cemetery between 2002 and 2012 without efforts to identify the victims.
Because the city’s administration admitted to only have “precarious information” on how many unidentified bodies were really dumped in the municipal cemetery, the court ordered to “conduct interviews with the authorities in charge of the administration of the cemetery or with those in charge of keeping records of the entry, removal or movement of the bodies of buried persons.”
Mayor Federico Gutierrez additionally was trying to hide another 174 victims of forced disappearance, the court found out in an earlier hearing.
The JEP is stumbling upon all kinds of unexpected findings in its investigations into “Operation Orion,” a 2002 military operation carried out by the Medellin Police Department, the 4th Brigade and crime lord “Don Berna.”
For example, the city never investigated who owns the building that for years was used as paramilitary headquarters in the Comuna 13, apparently with the full knowledge of the city’s authorities.
The shocking things Colombia’s war crimes tribunal found in Medellin
The dodgy contractors
The court ordered to include city contractor El Condor S.A. in the investigation after finding out that it was still removing sand and possibly human remains from the La Arenera quarry, despite a 2015 Medellin court ruling confirming it was a mass grave.
In fact, prosecution officials told the court that the company had moved 80% of the sand in which victims of forced disappearance were believed to be buried between 2003 and 2015, the years in which both an associate of the Oficina de Envigado and a former mayor were members of the board of directors.
During the same period, Bioparques S.A. was dumping earth over the mass grave in La Escombrera with the blessing of the city hall and Governor Luis Perez.
The latest measures are part of a series to prevent the city’s authorities and contractors to continue to hide, lose or remove the remains of the Medellin’s crime syndicate’s victims of disappearance.
Medellin security secretary arrested on organized crime charges
Propaganda over dead bodies
Based on the JEP’s finding, it appears that the city has been keeping at least 1,374 homicide victims of forced disappearance out of the books to prevent the city’s propaganda campaign being ruined by reality.
Medellin is a paradise today, but it’s going to be heaven when we don’t have criminals.
Security secretary Andres Felipe Tobon
Basically, the city has been falsifying its homicide rates while promoting its fake “transformation process.”
Foreign journalists have been offered paid trips to Latin America’s largest mass grave and appear to be lapping up the propaganda.
These advances in security led the city to become a kind of model in the region. The secretary acknowledged that delegations from several countries come permanently to Medellin to learn about the transformation process.
Infobae
The war crimes tribunal appears to be ruining 15 years of propaganda in the city that has categorically rejected Colombia’s peace process.
La Escombrera and La Arenara are only the first mass graves investigated by the war crimes tribunal. Victims have told the court about 10 more mass graves and the JEP has only just begun. These claims will further be investigated when JEP magistrates return to Medellin in October.
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