Overview
- On May 19 the Audiencia Nacional judge Francisco de Jorge issued formal rogatory commissions asking Venezuelan authorities for information on 14 named alleged ETA fugitives and asking US authorities for documents and testimony from ex‑general Hugo Carvajal.
- The requests aim to establish whether those 14 individuals took part in the crime of integration in a terrorist organization in a 2024 case against the self‑styled Colectivo de Huidos Políticos Vascos (EIPK).
- The judge based the move on a September Guardia Civil report and parts of the ETA archive transferred from France in 2018, and he says Carvajal’s possible testimony could help corroborate data from Caracas.
- Rogatory commissions are formal mutual‑legal‑assistance requests that seek evidence and witness statements rather than immediate arrests, and their effectiveness depends on whether Venezuela and the US agree to cooperate.
- Spain’s National Security Department estimates about 23 ETA fugitives live abroad and victims’ group Dignidad y Justicia pushed the judge to act given the political change in Venezuela; responses from Caracas and Washington are still pending so the case remains in an evidence‑gathering phase.