President Gustavo Petro responded this Friday, October 17, to the serious accusations made by Hugo"El Pollo" Carvajal, Hugo Chávez's former intelligence chief.
According to the information that has become known, Pollo Carvajal told Spanish authorities that Chavismo had financed Petro's campaign.
Through his personal X account, the head of state dismissed the allegations:"He has always said that for a decade, and for a decade, when he goes to the judges, they ask him about my case, and he always retracts it judicially."
He's been saying that for a decade now, and for a decade now, when he goes to the judges, they ask him about my case, and he always backtracks judicially. https://t.co/deI6TPjD2o
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 17, 2025
Those elected officials were revealed by the newspaper The Objective, expressing directly that the revelation was in 2021. It said that the then government of the Venezuelan leader financed different electoral campaigns of left-wing politicians in the region and in Europe.
Similarly, and according to leaked transcripts, Carvajal stated: “The Venezuelan government has illegally funded leftist political movements around the world for at least 15 years,” as revealed by The Objective.
But the list of financial support is extensive, with mentions of Néstor Kirchner in Argentina; Evo Morales in Bolivia; Lula da Silva in Brazil; Fernando Lugo in Paraguay; Ollanta Humala in Peru; Manuel Zelaya in Honduras; Gustavo Petro in Colombia; the Five Star Movement in Italy; and Podemos in Spain.
Meanwhile, amid the heightened tensions between US President Donald Trump and the Nicolás Maduro regime, what would prove to be the ultimate proof of the existence of the Cartel of the Suns has emerged in Colombia.
The details were revealed in an interview with SEMANA by the former Minister of the Interior and presidential candidate, Daniel Palacios, who also referred to Pollo Carvajal.
“Petro is desperate to defend the Cartel of the Suns, the members have arrest warrants from the United States justice system, and he invented the Drug Trafficking Board, of which there is no proof in the intelligence agencies,” Palacios said in that interview.
He also stated: “Today the Cartel of the Suns exists, which does exist, as determined by the intelligence agencies of the United States, Colombian intelligence, and Israeli intelligence. It has existed since 1999, and during that entire time, through members of the Bolivarian Public Forces who have been part of that government (of Nicolás Maduro), they have facilitated drug trafficking to the United States.”
"The leaders of that cartel are Nicolás Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, and four high-ranking officials, and in 2020, the United States government uncovered the evidence. General Hugo Armando Carvajal, alias"El Pollo," director of military intelligence in Venezuela, was convicted by the United States justice system as a member of the Cartel of the Suns.
