The Chilean prosecutor's office maintains that the kidnapping and murder of a former Venezuelan military officer in Chile last February was organized by the criminal gang the Tren de Aragua from Venezuela and requested the extradition of two suspicious people.
The corpse of Ronald Ojedaa 32-year-old former Venezuelan soldier who was expelled from the Venezuelan army accused of conspiracy and who was kidnapped on February 21 at his home in Santiago de Chile by four people who pretended to be Chilean police officials, was found days later in a suitcase underground in a popular area of the capital of that country.
The Chilean Minister of the Interior, Carolina Toha, said on Friday that they support the prosecution in its request for international criminal assistance, through diplomatic efforts, contacts with the authorities and participation in international forums demanding the collaboration of the Venezuelan government in the investigation.
The prosecutor in charge of the investigations, Héctor Barros, stated that the hypotheses that the victim was involved in illegal acts or that the Aragua Train had kidnapped him to collect a ransom were ruled out.
“Therefore the only line we have left and therefore what we have done is to make a request for international criminal assistance to Venezuela so that they can help us with the arrest of two Venezuelan citizens who are currently in Venezuela,” he stated. Barros on Friday.
“Until now I have no other precedent that shows us or indicates us elsewhere,” Barros had said when consulted by Chilevision News on whether the motive for the crime was political.
“This was organized and the kidnapping and subsequent homicide of Mr. Ojeda was requested from Venezuela,” he continued.
Article 69 of the Venezuelan Constitution prohibits the extradition of Venezuelans.
The case, which was kept under “reservation”, gained immediate relevance after a former Venezuelan commissioner who was considered a political prisoner of the government of former President Hugo Chávez, denounced that Ojeda had been executed by military counterintelligence officials who supposedly had entered Chilean territory. .
The version was discarded by the deputy and vice president of the ruling party of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello.
Days ago, Barros confirmed that the incident is linked to the criminal megagang of Venezuelan origin, the Tren de Aragua, which has expanded through several countries in the region and that the Venezuelan government considers a media “fiction”.
Prosecutor Barros said he did not know if the kidnapping and murder could have been organized from Venezuela by counterintelligence organizations.
“There is a degree of organization, of execution of this crime that we have not seen. The Aragua Train never acted like what they did in this case, disguised as police officers and taking the trouble to bury him four feet deep and lay it on cement, cement the place where he was buried,” he assured Chilevision.
According to the autopsy report to which the Chilean media had access, Ojeda would have been executed “almost immediately,” which would rule out a kidnapping for ransom. Furthermore, he specifies that his financial movements would rule out links with international organized crime.
The report was broadcast hours after the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, He called his ambassador in Caracas for consultations by reiterating that he considers “irresponsible” and “worrying” the statements of the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Yvan Gil, who described the criminal group the Tren de Aragua, which has expanded in the region, as a media “fiction.”
At the beginning of this month the Colombian chain Snail Television broadcast a report in which it states that the Venezuelan government has allegedly carried out “illegal” intelligence operations in countries such as Chile and Colombia to “hunt” government opponents accused of conspiracy.
According to the report prepared by the investigative unit of Caracol, blocked in Venezuela, the government would have turned to irregular groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Aragua Train.
The Venezuelan government accused the Colombian media of being an “apologist for crime” and of promoting a media campaign against it.
The Aragua Train emerged in Venezuela and, according to the organization Insight Crime, a think tank dedicated to deepening the debate on organized crime and citizen security in Latin America, its expansion to countries such as Peru, Chile and Colombia occurred “at the expense of the mass exodus” of Venezuelans. The organized crime gang has dedicated itself to criminal activities such as extortion, kidnapping, homicide, hitmen, drug sales, arms and human trafficking.
The gang operated from the Tocorón prison, in the state of Aragua, in central Venezuela, and at the end of last year, the government of President Nicolás Maduro launched an operation to dismantle it and give it an “end”.
According to Insight Crime, despite the blow of the loss of their base of operations, the gang's leadership escaped and “its transnational cells continue to operate.”
Recently, the Attorney General of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, assured that “a myth has been built” about the Aragua Train to attack, persecute and offend Venezuelan democracy and stated that it has been given power that “it has never had.” .
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channels Youtube, WhatsApp and to the newsletter. Turn on notifications and follow us on Facebook, x and instagram.