Hugo Carvajal, Venezuela’s former head of military intelligence and a close ally of the late President Hugo Chávez, is en route to the United States to face drug trafficking charges.

Carvajal, also known as “El Pollo,” fled Venezuela after turning against current President Nicolás Maduro. He was extradited from Spain, where he had been hiding, and is expected to make his first court appearance in New York. Prosecutors allege that he used his position in military intelligence to protect cocaine shipments from Venezuela to the US and provided weapons to the Colombian Marxist rebel group, Farc. Carvajal denies any wrongdoing and had previously fought against extradition to the US.

He holds crucial information about the Chávez and Maduro governments, and US authorities hope he will cooperate once he is in their custody.