The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and the Acting Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), Robert Murphy, announced that former Venezuelan general HUGO ARMANDO CARVAJAL BARRIOS, a/k/a “El Pollo,” pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, engaging in narco-terrorism for the benefit of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (the “FARC”), and related weapons offenses.
“The deeply troubling reality is that there are powerful foreign government officials who conspire to flood the United States with drugs that kill and debilitate,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios was once one of the most powerful men in Venezuela. For years, he and other officials in the Cartel de Los Soles used cocaine as a weapon—flooding New York and other American cities with poison. In doing so, Carvajal Barrios partnered with a deadly terrorist group to support their combined drug trafficking and terrorism efforts, wreaking havoc on communities throughout the United States and elsewhere. This guilty plea demonstrates our commitment to holding accountable foreign officials who abuse their power to poison our citizens. I commend the extraordinary efforts of our law enforcement allies in the DEA’s Special Operations Division and our other law enforcement partners here and abroad.”
“Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios exploited his position as the director of Venezuela’s military intelligence and abandoned his responsibility to the people of Venezuela in order to intentionally cause harm to the United States,” said DEA Acting Administration Robert Murphy. “After years of trying to evade law enforcement, Carvajal Barrios will now likely spend the rest of his life in federal prison. As evidenced in this case, DEA will relentlessly pursue anyone who uses violence, drugs, and intimidation to compromise the safety and security of the United States.”
As alleged in the Superseding Indictment, other court filings, and statements made during court proceedings:
Beginning in at least 1999, CARVAJAL BARRIOS, a Venezuelan citizen and the former director of Venezuela’s military intelligence agency, which was known as the Direccion de Inteligencia Militar (“DIM”), along with other high-ranking Venezuelan government and military officials, acted as leaders and managers of the Cartel de Los Soles, or “Cartel of the Suns.” CARVAJAL BARRIOS and other Cartel de Los Soles members abused the Venezuelan people and corrupted the legitimate institutions of Venezuela—including parts of the military, intelligence apparatus, legislature, and judiciary—to facilitate the importation of tons of cocaine into the United States. The Cartel de Los Soles sought not only to enrich its members and enhance their power but also to “flood” the United States with cocaine and inflict the drug’s harmful and addictive effects on users in the United States. To accomplish these goals, the leaders of the Cartel de Los Soles partnered with leaders of the FARC, a violent terrorist organization based in Colombia that was dedicated to the overthrow of the Colombian government, which was responsible for the production and distribution of the majority of the cocaine that reached the United States.
CARVAJAL BARRIOS held multiple positions of public trust in Venezuela that he exploited to benefit the Cartel de Los Soles, including as director of the DIM between approximately 2004 and 2011, and again in 2013. CARVAJAL BARRIOS took advantage of that position to illegally traffic narcotics and support his drug trafficking partners, including the FARC. In or about 2006, for example, CARVAJAL BARRIOS coordinated with other members of the Cartel de Los Soles to dispatch a 5.6-ton cocaine shipment from Venezuela on a DC-9 plane bearing a United States registration number. The plane departed Venezuela and landed in Mexico, where Mexican authorities seized the 5.6 tons of cocaine upon arrival. CARVAJAL BARRIOS also worked with the FARC to coordinate multi-ton drug shipments under his protection; provided heavily-armed security to protect drug shipments; and armed the FARC with automatic weapons and explosives to further the group’s drug trafficking and terrorist activities. To accomplish cocaine distribution on this massive scale, CARVAJAL BARRIOS accepted millions of dollars from drug traffickers. In addition, CARVAJAL BARRIOS participated in violence, including kidnappings and murder, to facilitate this cocaine trafficking and protect his co-conspirators.
One of CARVAJAL BARRIOS’s co-defendants in this case has already been sentenced. On or about April 11, 2024, Cliver Antonio Alcala Cordones was sentenced principally to a term of 260 months in prison, after pleading guilty to providing material support, including firearms, to the FARC. Other co-conspirators remain at large.
CARVAJAL BARRIOS, 65, of Venezuela, pled guilty to four counts contained in the Superseding Indictment. A table containing the charges and minimum and maximum penalties is set forth below. CARVAJAL BARRIOS is scheduled to be sentenced on October 29, 2025.
| Count | Min. and Max. Prison Term |
| Count One: Narco-terrorism conspiracy | Mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison; maximum of life in prison |
| Count Two: Narcotics importation conspiracy | Mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison; maximum of life in prison |
| Count Three: Possession of firearms, including machineguns and destructive devices | Mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison, which is to run consecutively to any other prison term imposed; maximum of life in prison |
| Count Four: Conspiracy to possess firearms, including machineguns and destructive devices | Maximum of life in prison |
The minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding efforts of the DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit, Miami Field Division, New York Field Division, Madrid Country Office, Bogota Country Office, and Mexico City Country Office; the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations; the U.S. Treasury Department, Office of Foreign Assets Control; the Counterterrorism Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division; the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division; the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida; the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs; the U.S. Embassy Madrid; the U.S. Embassy Bogota; the U.S. Embassy Mexico City; and our law enforcement partners in Colombia, Mexico, and Spain.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing the arrest and July 19, 2023, extradition from Spain of Carvajal Barrios.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
