SANTIAGO, CHILE.- The Foreign Minister of Chile, Alberto van Klaveren, rejected the statements of the Venezuelan prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, about the murder of Lt. Ronald Ojeda, which he described as “unacceptable,” and demanded that the suspects of the crime which are found in Venezuela are arrested and thus demonstrate collaboration with the clarification of the “horrible crime.”
In a forceful response from Gabriel Boric’s government, van Klaveren showed through a video that the case could have diplomatic implications.
“It is not our policy to favor the breaking of diplomatic relations, what interests us is obtaining collaboration, which would be more difficult if we do not have representation in Venezuela. The courses of diplomatic action are always under evaluation and we will exhaust all avenues to clarify this horrible crime,” said the chancellor in the recorded message that he sent to the media.
Prosecutor Saab declared at a press conference on June 5 that the Chilean prosecutor’s office “has not wanted to provide information for the location of the suspects” in Ojeda’s homicide, and considered the case “a false flag operation.” “The Chilean Intelligence Corps and foreigners could have participated,” he said, and indicated that the action “was intended to cloud relations between Chile and Venezuela.”
Saab recently sent a representation of his office to Chile to “collaborate” with the investigations carried out by the judicial authorities of that country where the murder occurred, in 2023, but they chose not to receive them.
Chile asks for collaboration in Ojeda crime
The Boric government, through its chancellor, responded to Saab’s statements.
“These statements do not surprise us and are incomprehensible, since the fundamental thing is to know what news the Venezuelan authorities have about the two citizens of that country who are fugitives from Chilean justice. “That is the collaboration that we are demanding and it is the minimum that we can demand of you,” he expressed.
Van Klaveren added that Venezuela’s impediment to extradite its nationals is a limitation that “is not new,” but explained that there is another established mechanism that would allow these criminals of Venezuelan nationality to be tried in Chile.
“The central thing is that these criminals who, as prosecutor (Ángel) Valencia says, are in Venezuelan territory, are arrested. With that we can begin to agree on a course of action,” he said.
Prosecutor Valencia, who said he learned about Saab’s statements from the press, also pointed out that if Saab has data about the events, that “through formal channels these should be sent to us for the purposes of enriching the investigation.”
Lieutenant Ojeda was forcibly removed from his residence in Santiago, Chile, by alleged officials in Chilean police uniforms, in 2023, and transferred to a remote location where his body was later found stuffed in a buried suitcase. The Chilean justice authorities considered that the crime of Ojeda, who was in the country as a refugee, had political origins.
Source: With network information, La Tercera
