SANTIAGO, CHILE- The Chilean Government confirmed this Friday that the authorities of Costa Rica A suspect was arrested for being linked to the kidnapping and murder of the former military man Venezuelan Ronald Ojeda, who lived in the country as a political refugee.
The Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, reported that the Costa Rican Police arrested a person who was carrying a document under the identity of Michael Villegas Rodríguez, reported the Chilean news portal T13.
“I ask for caution because, naturally, the first thing that must be done is to be absolutely certain that the person arrested is Michael Villegas Rodríguez. All the information available indicates that this is the case, but the certainty is through fingerprint verification, which is already underway,” he added.
For her part, Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said in a message posted on social media X that the arrest “is an important step” that was possible “thanks to the cooperation between police and states in the region.”
“The Chilean government and the institutions of our country will continue working and making every effort to clarify the case and bring those responsible to justice,” said the Chilean Interior Minister.
The suspect, of Venezuelan origin, was reportedly arrested near the border between Costa Rica and Panama. According to Monsalve, the authorities are in contact with both the Prosecutor’s Office and the judiciary to initiate the extradition request.
The lieutenant, who escaped from a Venezuelan prison in late 2017 and went into exile in Chile, lost track of him in the early hours of Wednesday, February 21, when hooded men pretending to be police officers entered his home and kidnapped him.
Nine days later, the body of the former Venezuelan military officer, who was living in Chile as a political refugee, was found inside a suitcase buried under a cement structure in Maipú, a commune of the Chilean capital, Santiago.
The Third Guarantee Court of Santiago de Chile ordered provisional imprisonment of a 17-year-old suspect in the case. Two other minors are also being investigated “in a context of transnational organized crime linked to the Aragua Train.”
Source: With information from Europa Press
