Santiago de Chile.-Relatives of retired Venezuelan lieutenant, Ronald Ojedakilled in Chile In 2023, they decided to leave that country and process their refugio politician in Argentina for reasons of personal safety, following the crime that is still being investigated and in which members of the Venezuelan organized crime gang are believed to be involved Aragua Train.
The Argentine government is in the process of granting the asylum request made on July 4 by the family’s lawyer, Juan Carlos Manrique, after several efforts were made with Patricia Bullrich’s Ministry of Security, according to Buonarroti media.
Manrique submitted a document to the office in which he alleges that the soldier’s widow, son, sister and nephews feel vulnerable to the insecurity and surveillance of which they have been victims since the murder, preceded by an irregular detention, in February 2024.
The 36-year-old soldier was living in Chile with his wife and young son as a refugee after escaping from a Venezuelan prison where he was being held for an alleged conspiracy. In February, he was forcibly removed from his residence in Santiago by armed men in police uniforms. His body was found days later buried in a nearby area.
Insecurity and the Aragua Train in Chile
In the request, the lawyer explains that the two women “are neither safe nor protected in Chile (…) what distresses them most is that they have been denied full access to the investigation file, but paradoxically, the latest proceedings that reaffirm the foreign intervention and that of highly dangerous criminals from the Tren de Aragua and other gangs in this crime were made public on an open television newscast (Chilevisión), according to the media.
And amid tense relations between Chile and Venezuela over the case, the investigation remains shrouded in mystery.
Two months after the crime, prosecutor Hector Barros, head of the Organized Crime and Homicide Team (ECOH) of the Attorney General’s Office, reported that Ojeda’s murder “was orchestrated from Venezuela” and that the only theory in force, up to that point, was a political motive. “We maintain that this was organized and the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Mr. Ojeda was requested from Venezuela,” he said.
Weeks later, the Chilean prosecutor’s office reported that two of the suspects and members of the Tren de Aragua had fled to Venezuela and requested their extradition, which has not been successful.
Given the risks to the physical integrity of Ojeda’s family, the lawyer contacted the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where they considered seeking refuge in Spain, where a relative lives. However, Argentina was chosen due to its proximity and the characteristics of the case.
Source: With information from Infobae, BioBioChile
