by EFE
The former national treasurer of Venezuela
Claudia Patricia Díaz Guillén
and her husband,
Adrián José Velásquez Figueroa
, who was head of security for Hugo Chávez, both extradited from Spain to the United States, were found guilty on Tuesday of money laundering charges, but their lawyer He said he will appeal.
Marissel Descalzo confirmed that Díaz Guillén was found guilty of two charges and acquitted of one, and her husband was found guilty of the three charges against him.
When asked if he would appeal, he responded with a clear and emphatic "yes" and excused himself from making any further comments, because, he said, he had to speak "with the family" of his clients.
After the verdict of the jury, Judge William P. Dimitrouleas, of the federal courts of Fort Lauderdale (40 kilometers from Miami), will dictate the sentence on a date not yet determined.
Claudia Patricia Díaz Guillen, the so-called 'nurse' of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, leaves the supreme court in Madrid, Spain, on September 24, 2018. AP
The verdict is partially "sealed," meaning that the jury's arguments cannot be accessed through electronic court records.
It is clear that Díaz Guillén was
found guilty of all but one charge
, while Velásquez Figueroa was found guilty of all.
"Neither Mrs. Guillén nor her husband committed the crimes that the government alleges," Descalzo said on November 20, days before the start of the trial.
Among those called to testify by the Prosecutor's Office was the former Venezuelan treasurer Alejandro Andrade Cedeño, who reached an agreement with the prosecutors and avoided being tried by means of a guilty plea.
Raúl Gorrín Belisario, owner and president of the Venezuelan channel Globovisión, who is considered a fugitive by US justice, is accused in the same case in the federal courts of South Florida.
According to the prosecution, Gorrín paid millions of dollars in bribes to Chávez's 'nurse' and Andrade Cedeño to secure the rights to carry out foreign currency exchange transactions at favorable rates.
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The couple, extradited from Spain, she in May and he in October of this year, is known as the "nurse" and the "bodyguard" of the former president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013 from cancer.
In recent months, the lawyers for Chávez's 'nurse' have unsuccessfully tried to get Judge Dimitrouleas to accept the argument that the US government lacks “extraterritorial jurisdiction” to try her.
Both she and her husband have dual Venezuelan-Spanish nationality.
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They were arrested in Spain in 2021 after the United States claimed them for crimes related to money laundering.
The defense asserts that neither Díaz, who has pleaded not guilty, nor Velásquez Figueroa "transmitted, transported, or transferred any monetary instrument to the United States in furtherance of any unlawful activity."
Díaz Guillén was part of Chávez's health team before being named national treasurer, a position she held from 2011 to 2013, and her husband was her head of security.
After Chávez's death they left the country and after a brief stay in the Dominican Republic they settled in Spain.
Venezuela requested his extradition from Spain in 2018
and was approved on October 25, 2018 by the National Court for the crimes of money laundering, criminal association and enrichment in his own country.
But Spain reversed its decision, considering that in Venezuela "its integrity was in danger", an argument that the Prosecutor's Office of the South American nation rejected because it saw in this turn "a political decision, motivated by the support provided by the Spanish Government" to the opposition