Diplomatic tension grows between Chile and Venezuela due to the kidnapping and murder of Ronald Ojeda

The diplomatic and judicial tension between Chile and Venezuela over the kidnapping and murder of Venezuelan lieutenant Ronald Ojeda, in Santiago, Chileincreased in the last hours.

The Chilean attorney general, Héctor Barros, This Friday morning he ruled out that the crime had an extortion motivation or it was revenge between criminal gangs.

“We have established that this was not a self-kidnapping, that it was not an extortionate kidnapping, that this was organized by the Tren de Aragua, by a foreign organization in the context of organized crime, where the specific profile of the victim leads us to conclude then that none of the first hypotheses that the victim was involved in illicit acts or that the Aragua Train had kidnapped him for the purpose of collecting a ransom, “They are absolutely ruled out,” said Barros.

The prosecutor confirmed that Ojeda’s crime was ordered from Venezuela: “What I have said is that this is a transnational crime that was organized in Venezuela”.

For her part, the Minister of the Interior of Chile, Carolina Tohá also assured that the motive for the murder could have political reasons.

“The issue is what their motive was. The victim has no relationship with organized crime, according to the investigation. There is no element to consider, for example, a self-kidnapping and no other hypothesis. That is what has led the Prosecutor’s Office to think that the most plausible hypothesis is that there was a political motive. Now, whose? The investigation itself has to clarify that,” Tohá assured.

The senior official indicated that they demand the collaboration of Venezuela for the capture and extradition of the material authors of the crime.

“What happened in this crime is important for Chile. We give it the greatest seriousness, but it is also important for Venezuela since eyes will be on his behavior and willingness to collaborate with the investigation. It has to be demonstrated in facts,” Tohá concluded.

On February 21, the Venezuelan lieutenant Ronald Ojeda was kidnapped from his apartment in Santiago, Chile, by men disguised as Chilean police officers. that they kidnapped him at 3:00 am in front of his family. Nine days later, his body was found suffocated and buried under a construction in a neighborhood of Santiago de Chile.

Because of the fingerprint left by the leader of the kidnappers in the elevator The identity of Walter Rodríguez, a Venezuelan linked to kidnappings and crimes, was found committed by the Aragua Train.

In 2015, Ojeda worked for the then governor of the state of Aragua, Tareck El Aissami.

Ojeda was in Cúcuta last December in the company of Captain Ángelo Heredia and other deserters. Noticias Caracol revealed two weeks ago the existence of that meeting and how the Venezuelan Military Counterintelligence Directorate allied itself with the ELN to kidnap Heredia in Colombian territory. And how he also allied himself with the Aragua Train to search for deserters and national security information.

Ojeda was saved from this operation, but two months later he was murdered in Santiago de Chile.

Although the genesis of This transnational hunt for deserters occurred in Colombia, the authorities remain silent in the face of these events.