Second Colombian pleads guilty to kidnapping of US soldiers in Colombia

A second Colombian citizen pleaded guilty to the kidnapping of two members of the United States military while they were on duty in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia.

“Pedro José Silva Ochoa, 47, of Bogotá, and his co-defendants attacked, incapacitated and kidnapped two US soldiers in Bogotá,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. release the US Department of Justice.

Silva Ochoa and another accomplice identified as Arango Castellanos used substances – including benzodiazepines – to pour them into the two soldiers’ drinks while they were enjoying a soccer game in a recreational area in Bogotá in March 2020.

According to the office, the attackers took their victims by taxi to an area outside the bar, took their credit cards and used them to make various expenses.

Silva Ochoa was extradited in May from Chile to the United States and pleaded guilty on Tuesday to “conspiracy to kidnap an internationally protected person,” while Arango was arrested in Colombia from where he was extradited to the northern nation in May 2023 and Upon pleading guilty, he received a sentence of 48 years and nine months in prison.

A third defendant – Uribe Chiran in the report – awaits trial in the US scheduled for February 2025.

The process is being carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Southern District of Florida and the Department of Justice, the FBI and the US embassies in Chile and Colombia participated in the investigation.

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