(CNN Spanish) -- Hugo "Pollo" Carvajal, former director of Intelligence of Venezuela, was a trusted man of Hugo Chávez and one of his closest collaborators. After a long journey, he was arrested in Spain and awaited to be extradited to the United States, where he faces charges for drug trafficking. This Wednesday, the Spanish superior court approved the extradition.

Carvajal was a key figure of Chavismo. His relationship with the late Venezuelan leader dated back to 1992, the year in which both participated in an attempted coup against then-President Carlos Andrés Pérez and ended up in prison.

Between 2004 and 2011, when Chávez was in power, Carvajal was in charge of Venezuela's General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence. In 2004 he also joined the DISIP, the political police at the time, and was later vice minister of the Integrated Criminal Investigation System, a position that depended on the Ministry of the Interior and Justice.

After leaving the intelligence department, the retired soldier was a deputy in the National Assembly for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), the ruling party.

In 2014, Carvajal's responsibilities passed to the diplomatic sphere: the government of questioned President Nicolás Maduro named him consul in Aruba. There they came to arrest him, but later they recognized his diplomatic immunity and released him.

El Pollo publicly broke with Nicolás Maduro in 2019 and recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela.

The accusations against Hugo 'Pollo' Carvajal

The US accusations against Carvajal date back more than a decade.

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In September 2008, the Treasury Department sanctioned Carvajal on charges that he protected drug shipments from demobilized FARC guerrillas and supplied the group with weapons. According to the US agency, Carvajal also provided Venezuelan identity documents to Colombian guerrillas so they could easily travel to Venezuela.

As reported by the Department of State, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York indicted him in March 2020 with conspiracy to commit narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and other charges related to firearms.

In 2019 he had been indicted in the same district on the same charges, and in 2011 on conspiracy to import cocaine charges. For this last charge, he was also indicted in 2014 in the Southern District of Florida.

He sought refuge in Spain

Carvajal left Venezuela to take refuge in Spain. He said that he chose that country because he trusted that "its institutions would reveal the lies and inconsistencies with which the US Attorney's Office" persecutes him. However, he then lashed out at the Spanish authorities: "Far from protecting me, the Spanish government and the National Court have committed serious irregularities against me," he said.

In April 2019, the Spanish Police detained Carvajal for the first time at the request of the United States, but he was released after a court decided to deny the Venezuelan's extradition request. A plenary decision of the Spanish National Court that same year reversed that ruling and the police began a new search to arrest Carvajal, who by then was already missing.

The case took a new turn in September, when, after a complex operation in close coordination with the DEA, the Police found Carvajal and arrested him.

Timeline of the case

April 12, 2019 - The Spanish Police detain Carvajal at the request of the United States.

September 16, 2019 - The National Court of Spain confirms that the judge handling Carvajal's case has decided to deny his extradition to the United States. The section in charge argues that "what specific criminal acts were carried out by the defendant" were not specified. The ruling implies that Carvajal is immediately released again and it is the last day he is seen in public.

November 12, 2019 - The Spanish Police confirm that there is a new arrest warrant against Carvajal in force.

November 18, 2019 - The plenary session of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court of Spain agrees to extradite Carvajal to the United States. Carvajal describes the decision as an "aberration."

November 23 - 'Pollo' Carvajal's wife, Angélica Flores, publishes a video in which she says that he said goodbye to his family two weeks ago. "He's not running from justice, he's looking for it."

May 26, 2021 - The United States is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that could lead to the arrest and/or conviction of Carvajal.

September 9, 2021 - The Spanish Police detain Carvajal who, according to what he says, "lived totally cloistered, without going outside (sic) or looking out the window, and always protected by trusted people." The "Chicken" had undergone cosmetic surgery and was hiding behind mustaches, beards and false wigs, according to the Spanish authorities. You can read here the details of the complex operation that ended with his arrest.

September 14, 2021 - The National Court of Spain temporarily suspends the extradition of Hugo 'Pollo' Carvajal to the United States, arguing that it does not know at what stage the detainee's asylum process was. However, two days later the Government clarifies that the asylum request made in 2019 was rejected that same year and a spokesperson for the court body affirms to CNN that the extradition can be made effective once the rest of the resources are resolved and measures presented by his defense before the National Court itself and the Supreme Court.

October 20, 2021 - Spain's top court has approved Carvajal's extradition to the United States.

With information from Rafael Romo, Osmary Hernández and Pau Mosquera