Little more than two months after the kidnapping and murder of the Venezuelan lieutenant Ronald Ojeda In Santiago de Chile, details continue to come to light behind the crime that, according to what was stated by the Chilean Prosecutor’s Office, was organized from Caracas.
In recent days the media Meganoticias released an audio of the Venezuelan soldier, taken from his mobile phone, in which he refers to a secret operation, which was presumed to have the objective of overthrowing the dictator Nicolás Maduro. After the disclosure of this material, it was learned that the former lieutenant traveled at the end of December of last year to the Colombian city of Cúcuta, on the border with Venezuela.
In the audio in question he regrets the arrest of his partner, the captain Ányelo Herediaand claims not to know what caused the objective to fail.
“Brother, (it is) frustrating because quite a lot of work was done, well, notice that “A small mistake that is being paid for quite dearly and that put everything at risk.”is heard in the material.
He then refers to the arrest of Heredia in January of this year within the framework of the so-called operation “White Bracelet”: “And well, thank God I was able to get out. But damn, my captain was captured, but well, as you say, frustrating because the goals were not met and faggot not, she worked hard for that.”
“There was indeed a trip to Colombia, specifically in the month of December 2023.”revealed the Chilean prosecutor Hector Barros, in charge of the investigations, and who indicated that Ojeda’s final destination was a meeting in Venezuela. And he added: “That is why we maintain that the organization of this kidnapping took place outside of Chile, specifically in Venezuela.”
José Rodríguez Araña, another dissident Venezuelan military officer, was contacted by that means. In his defense denied the hypothesis of an attack against the Chavista dictator. According to him, he pointed out, “committing a homicide is not part of any plan, because this fact would not depose the dictatorship.”
He also acknowledged that the trip Ojeda took last year was not his first outside of Chile. He commented that in 2020 both met in Peru.
The hypothesis of an assassination attempt was disclosed by the Maduro regime.
Heredia was arrested on December 14 of last year, when, together with Ojeda, he was trying to cross a trail from Colombia to Venezuelan territory. He was in forced disappearance from the time of his arrest until in January of this year when the dictatorship’s prosecutor, Tarek William Saabpresented the conspiracy plot announcing that the captain was in the custody of the Venezuelan regime.
After three years in prison, on December 25, 2020, Captain Heredia fled from the Ramo Verde military prison. Since then, like Ojeda, he dedicated himself to denouncing the atrocities that occur in the military world.
The Colombian channel Snail reported that the Venezuelan agents had the help of the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN), an ally of the Maduro dictatorship, to thwart Heredia and Ojeda’s objective. The latter, however, He miraculously managed to escape and returned to Chile.“very thin and with injuries,” according to his sister Mayra.
With Heredia detained again in Venezuela and Ojeda murdered, all roads lead to Miraflores.
“My brother put his life at risk,” Mayra said to Meganews.
The prosecutor Mudsin charge of the investigations into the crime of the former Venezuelan military man, whose body was found on March 1 in a suitcase and buried in cement in the Santiago commune of Maipú, He assured that the homicide was organized from Venezuela.
“We maintain that this was organized and the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Mr. Ojeda was requested from Venezuela,” he declared last month to the local press.
The Chilean official also explained that The crime could be related to the Aragua Trainthe criminal gang of Venezuelan origin that has expanded its operations in several Latin American countries since 2022 and that Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil assured that it is an “international media fiction.”
Ojeda was kidnapped on February 21. He was taken from his house in Santiago at dawn, in his underwear, by three men with helmets, balaclavas, bulletproof vests and armed with guns, who pretended to be police officers. For two days he was tortured and finally killed by “asphyxiation for betrayal.”
According to police investigations, two of those responsible belong to the Tren de Aragua. At the head of the command, arrived from Venezuela, he would have been “El Gordo Ale”. Venezuelan soldiers in exile claim that he is an officer from the Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM).
The head of the command also counted on the help of two leaders of the criminal group in Chile: Maikel Villegas and Walter Rodríguezwho would be hidden in Venezuela today.
President Gabriel Boric He demanded that Maduro hand over the murderers and announced that he will take the case to international bodies. “We request and demand from Venezuela all the collaboration required in this case so that they search for and bring to justice those suspected of having perpetrated or collaborated in this vile murder,” he said last month.
“Not only are we not going to allow impunity, but (…) “We are going to exhaust all avenues, both national and international.”he added.
Along these lines, Ojeda’s family accused the Maduro regime before the International Criminal Court.
The only detainee so far is a 17-year-old teenager, charged as an alleged member and accomplice of the kidnapping.
