SANTIAGO.- The Chilean Prosecutor’s Office affirmed on Monday that the Tren de Aragua criminal gang is behind the murder of retired Venezuelan military officer Ronald Ojeda, a dissident of the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela and who lived as a refugee in Chile.
“We have been carrying out a series of procedures that are aimed precisely at establishing the participation of each of the accused,” in a case “mainly linked to the Aragua Train (…) and that has been committing different crimes, such as kidnapping,” said prosecutor Héctor Barros, in charge of the case.
Ojeda, dissident of the Nicolás Maduro regime, was kidnapped by three people dressed in uniforms of the Chilean investigative police who pretended to belong to the organization, who took him, in his underwear, from his home located in a humble neighborhood of Santiago, in the early hours of February 21. The moment in which he was taken from the building was captured by the building’s security cameras, in an event that has shocked the country, plunged into a strong insecurity crisis.
The case caused great excitement in Chile and in Venezuela, where opponents assured that it would be an intelligence operation by the Maduro government.
However, last Friday the body of Ronald Ojeda was found in a neighborhood of the capital, inside a suitcase that had been buried.
Local media claim that the Chilean government granted Ojeda, 32, refugee status.
On social networks, the former Venezuelan military man had defined himself as a “former political prisoner” and “officer of the Venezuelan Armed Forces.”
The case is investigated by a special organized crime unit of the Chilean police, which is behind the operations in the country of international gangs such as the Tren de Aragua, of Venezuelan origin.
Chile It hosts a large community of Venezuelan citizens, estimated at 533,000 people, according to the National Institute of Statistics.
A minor, the only one detained
A 17-year-old boy arrested for his participation in the kidnapping in Chile of the former Venezuelan military man He was admitted to a juvenile center on Monday, the prosecutor’s office reported after a court hearing.
The minor of Venezuelan origin who entered Chile irregularly was placed in provisional detention, which is equivalent to preventive detention for minors, for his participation in driving the vehicle with which he kidnapped Ojedareported the prosecutor.
The body of the former military man was found on Friday, after an intense search, in an area of irregular housing, buried in a suitcase 1.40 meters deep under a large slab of cement. The cause of death of the former soldier would be asphyxiation, the prosecutor’s office indicated. No traces of bullets were found in his body.
“Crime for hire”
The investigation and the judicial hearing were declared secret, so the details of the case are still unknown.
Prosecutor Barros also confirmed that there are two outstanding arrest warrants against two other individuals who are suspected of carrying out the kidnapping, who were identified.
For the Ojeda family’s lawyer, Juan Carlos Manriquez, it is a commissioned crime, outsourced to organized crime. The lawyer confirmed that the family did not receive a request for extortion payment for the kidnapping.
Source: With information from AFP
