Former Venezuelan regime’s intelligence chief Hugo Carvajal showed evidence that reveals how the socialist dictatorship paid almost $7 million to Spain’s radical left-wing party Podemos. Apparently, the payments were made during the years of former Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, in order to establish a direct political connection in Spain that could push its agenda in the European country.
According to Spanish media outlet Ok Diario, Carvajal presented different documents to Spain’s Audiencia Nacional judge Manuel Garcia, that confirmed the links between Podemos and the Palacio de Miraflores, with transactions that reach $6,7 million. Apparently, Carvajal delivered the documents in a sealed envelope where he also showed evidence about different businesses between former Spanish judge Baltazar Garzon and Venezuelan state-controlled oil company PDVSA.
The Venezuelan connection.
The media outlet pointed out that the documents show the connection between Podemos and the Venezuelan regime started in 2008. At that moment, Chavez allegedly ordered to pay the millions of dollars to the CEPS, which was the academic foundation created by Podemos founder and former leader Pablo Iglesias.
Carvajal’s documents reveal that Chavez told his inner circle that it was important to invest this amount of money “in order to prompt a political change in Spain that could be more friendly to our Bolivarian government.” The former dictator’s alleged declarations confirm what different investigations conducted by independent media have been suggesting over the last few years: that Podemos is essentially a radical left-wing party whose roots go as far as Caracas.
Basically, the initial relationship between the CEPS and the Venezuelan regime was of advisory. The Spanish academic foundation offered political advisory and analysis to the socialist dictatorship, which paid $2,492 million in the year 2008 and $4,273 million between the years 2009 and 2011.
Apparently, each of these transactions was supervised and approved by some of the most important members of the Venezuelan regime back then, including the former Finance Minister Rafael Isea.
Podemos’ main figures involved in the documents.
Iglesias, along with Jorge Verstrynge and Juan Carlos Monedero, was not only the three main figures of the CEPS but also the main founders of Podemos. According to Ok Diario, these three names appear in Carvajal’s documents, as Chavez allegedly said about them that they were “natural allies of our Bolivarian revolution.”
The documents also reveal that the three Podemos founders not only provided political advisory to Chavez but also dictated the content that was going to be transmitted at Chavez’s famous TV and radio show “Alo Presidente.” During each of its Episodes, Chavez used to give hours-long speeches where he spoke about anti-imperialism and what he called the “miracle” of his “Bolivarian revolution.”
A pretty interesting element about this situation is the fact that, during that time, the CEPS figures not only worked in political advisory for the Venezuelan regime but also had their own TV and YouTube shows such as La Tuerka and Fort Apache. In each of these shows, Verstrynge, Monedero and Iglesias used to publicly praise Venezuela’s socialist dictatorship, claiming that this “revolution” represented the “response of the humble people against imperialism and the evil of capitalism.”
Of course, these documents might create a political crisis in Spain, considering that Podemos has become one of the main parties in the Spanish political spectrum over the last few years, reaching the point of becoming the third-largest political force. In fact, Iglesias recently became Spain’s Vice President, after President Pedro Sanchez and his party PSOE decided to establish a political relationship with Podemos to remain in power.
This year, Iglesias decided to resign from the vice presidency in order to become Podemos’ candidate in Madrid’s regional elections. After losing against right-winger Isabel Diaz-Ayuso, he decided to quit politics.
