The Spanish government dismissed the accusations made by spokesmen for the Popular Party (PP) and the fugitive and opposition extremist Leopold Lopez against the Venezuelan justice system.
The position assumed by the Spanish Executive stems from a letter sent to the Congress of the Iberian country in response to the request for refusal of extradition requested by the PP in the case of the Venezuelan Rolando Figueroa, who is requested in Venezuela for fraud.
“In relation to the reference question, Your Honors should be informed that the Government agreed to the surrender following the criteria of the National High Court, which considered the extradition to be appropriate, after a judicial proceeding with full guarantees in which all the allegations were assessed. formulated by the defendant”, reads the text sent to Congress by the Iberian Executive on June 1.
unfounded political pressure
PP parliamentarians and representatives of the self-exiled opposition extremism in Spain, have promoted a campaign around this case, this under the accusation of being a “political persecution” against Rolando Figueroa, who claimed to be part of the grassroots militancy of the far-right party. Popular Will, led by fugitive Leopoldo López.
This argument that has been dismissed by the Executive and the Spanish justice system after a process of evaluating the “risks” and they recalled that “the extradition procedure itself has mechanisms that guarantee that, in the event that it is proven that the person claimed is subjected to political persecution in her country, extradition cannot prosper”.
“In this case, as in any case in which the government authorizes an extradition, all the reasons that could justify the denial of surrender are analyzed in court. In this case, the National Court has not appreciated any reason to deny it”, they emphasize.
Who is Rolando Figueroa?
Despite the accusations made by the PP and Venezuelan self-exiles in Spain, who claim that he is a “political persecutor of the Nicolás Maduro regime”, the name of Rolando Figueroa is unknown in Venezuela.
“My crime has been to think differently”, has been the argument of this character to request the annulment of his extradition and request that he be granted asylum by Spain, both being denied on several occasions for not presenting verifiable allegations.
Contrary to what Figueroa pointed out, this is being requested by the Venezuelan justice since 2018 for aggravated fraud and association to commit a crime according to the judgment of the Criminal Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice with a ruling by Judge Yanina Karabin de Díaz.
The case
The case against Figueroa stems from the complaint made by Mayerling Rojas Villasmil who would have delivered in 2012 the amount of 230,000 dollars to the marketing company CMA CA for the acquisition of filters for chemotherapy, pain treatment, carboplatin and other medical supplies to perform chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment to the mother of the accuser.
As the supplies were not delivered, nor was she contacted by the representatives of the marketer, Mayerling Rojas went to the address provided by Figueroa as the company’s headquarters, finding that another company called Buen Hombre Films, CA (sic. ) and with a company name different from the company to which she had made the payment for the acquisition abroad of medicines and medical supplies for her and her mother.
After the death of María Villasmil, mother of the accuser, due to lack of previously paid and undelivered treatment, the Public Ministry takes legal action that results in the arrest warrant for Rolando Figueroa on May 23, 2018, for which a year later, his extradition was requested when it was verified that he was outside Venezuelan territory, residing in Spain.
After evaluating and verifying the allegations of both the Venezuelan justice and Figueroa, the Spanish justice granted his extradition last July 2020, a process that was delayed in the first instance by the covid-19 pandemic and later by all the actions carried out by characters such as Leopoldo López in alliance with members of the Popular Party, both staunch opponents of the Venezuelan government.
This fact raises the question about the possible use of political arguments based on ideologies by Venezuelan criminals who are accused of common crimes that could even lead to murder, as is the case of Enzo Francini who is in Spain and is requested by the Venezuelan justice for being the main perpetrator of the death of Orlando Figuerawho perished by being burned alive during an opposition demonstration in eastern Caracas, for “appearing to be a Chavista.”
Another piece of information about the case is that the lawyer in Spain for Rolando Figueroa and Enzo Franchini is the same, Ismael Oliver Romero, from the Oliver Abogados law firm.
