The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice declared it appropriate to request Spain to hand over, via extradition, the Venezuelan Mauricio Andrade Santamaría, a former police officer linked to Iván Simonovis and the plans aimed at the overthrow of President Nicolás Maduro.
Such a decision is reflected in ruling No. 636, written by Judge Elsa Gómez Moreno and endorsed by her courtroom colleagues, Maikel Moreno and Carmen Marisela Castro.
The sentence details that Mauricio Andrade was captured in Madrid, Spain, as reported last October by the Investigations Directorate of the International Police (Interpol) to the 2nd Special Control Court with Competence in cases Linked to Terrorism.
The investigation indicates that Santamaría is associated with the trafficking of firearms from the United States to Venezuela, with the purpose of delivering them to groups that generate violence installed in Táchira.
The weapons arrived at delivery companies located in Greater Caracas, hidden in boxes containing vehicle spare parts. The person in charge of removing these parcels was Leonardo Atilio Micatelli Hernández in coordination with Cicpc agent Argenis Mavares. Micatelli Hernández was captured on July 31, 2024 in the Las Quintas sector, El Paraíso, Caracas, by Cicpc agents, who mounted an operation in that area after receiving the alert from neighbors.
The expertise carried out on Micatelli Hernández’s cell phone shows multiple interactions with Mauricio Andrade, a contact that includes a photograph of the subject wearing a United States military uniform.
All these elements were analyzed by the Criminal Chamber upon receiving the file processed by the 73rd National Prosecutor’s Office against Money Laundering. The magistrates confirmed that the extradition request meets the requirements to request Spain to send the subject, who will be tried in Venezuela for terrorism and illicit trafficking in weapons of war, among other crimes.
