FLORIDA.- The justice of USA decided to postpone the announcement of the sentence of the former Venezuelan general Clíver Alcaláwho faces charges related to his alleged support of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)including the supply of weapons.
“The sentence in the US case against Clíver Antonio Alcalá Cordones has been postponed and will be carried out during a hearing scheduled for February 27 and 28,” an official statement from the court states, according to a review The National.
The Prosecutor’s Office requests a sentence of 30 years in prison for the former military man, while the defense seeks to reduce this time to a maximum of six years. Furthermore, in a document dated January 15, the Prosecutor’s Office also accuses the former military man of drug trafficking, linking him to figures such as the late ruler Hugo Chávez and the dictator Nicolás Maduro, from whom he later distanced himself.
In this context, the decision to postpone the hearing until February highlights the complexity of the case and allows both parties to present additional arguments before the court. It is relevant to remember that on June 29, 2023, Alcalá pleaded guilty to his connections with the FARCthus avoiding a trial.
The Prosecutor’s Office maintains that Alcalá protected the FARC and its drug trafficking associates from “interference by the Venezuelan armed forces and police,” supplying weapons and facilitating drug trafficking to the United States.
In exchange for these services, the accused would have received millions of dollars in bribes. The Prosecutor’s Office highlights Alcalá’s close relationship with Luciano Marin Arango, alias Iván Márquez, one of the FARC leaders and main negotiator of the peace agreements that ended the armed conflict in 2016. However, Márquez, persecuted for drug trafficking, He became commander of the dissident faction of this guerrilla.
Source: With information from El Nacional and AFP
