Chile will send a note of protest to Venezuela for comments about Ronald Ojeda’s crime

Ojeda, a dissident of the Government of Nicolás Maduro and political asylum in Chile, was kidnapped on February 21 in Santiago and his remains were found ten days later in a peripheral town of the capital, buried under a cement block.

In April, the Chilean Prosecutor’s Office linked the crime to the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, born in a Venezuelan prison and spread throughout Chile, Peru, Colombia and Bolivia, and requested support from the Venezuelan authorities to clarify the facts.

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So far, there is only one young Venezuelan detained in Chile, but there are two other suspects with arrest warrants, who Chilean authorities believe are in Venezuela.
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​The case has been generating friction between both countries for months and accusations of lack of cooperation on the part of Chile towards Venezuela.

But tension escalated again this Wednesday when Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab assured that Ojeda’s crime was an operation to “cloud” relations between both countries. in which Chilean and foreign intelligence bodies “with spurious interests” participated.

“We consider that Ojeda’s murder is a false flag operation. “An operation that had the objective of clouding relations between Chile and Venezuela, just when a very important rapprochement was taking place.”Saab said during a televised speech.

The prosecutor said that “there are people involved in all stages of the incident,” although they have not been identified, and that “they may belong to intelligence organizations from third countries.”

He reported that, “in view of the seriousness of the events” and the participation of “suspected Venezuelans”, the Prosecutor’s Office opened its own investigation “to facilitate the collection of the information requested by Chile.”

Saab recalled that Venezuela does not extradite its nationals, so, if those responsible are captured, they will be tried in the national territory based on “the evidence collected by the Chilean Prosecutor’s Office”, although – he assured – the southern country has not provided “absolutely no” information about the case.
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This Thursday, Boric said that “the comments of the Venezuelan prosecutor effectively show that there is no adequate will to resolve a case.” which is tremendously complex” and assured that he will adopt “all the measures within his reach” to find those responsible for the crime.

“When the institutions of our country are insulted, denigrated or questioned, what we have to do is act very clearly and firmly,” said the president, who However, he rejected the breaking of diplomatic relations.
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Chilean Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveran also described the attorney general’s statements as “unacceptable” on Wednesday. “The statements of the Venezuelan national attorney general are unacceptable, but they do not surprise us,” said the foreign minister in a video sent to the media.

Van Klaveren also assured that The Government is not considering breaking diplomatic relations because, he noted, the objective is to obtain collaboration and this “would be more difficult if we do not have representation in Venezuela.”

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“Diplomatic courses of action are always under evaluation and we will exhaust all avenues to clarify this horrible crime,” the minister added.
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A few hours earlier, the Chilean Minister of Justice, Luis Cordero, indicated on the state channel 24 Horas that “in Chile there is no speculation about judicial cases” and that there is “respect for the institutions, the autonomy of the Public Ministry and the independence of the Judiciary”.