Chilean authorities ruled out the hard-to-believe “political” hypothesis in the kidnapping and assassination of former Venezuelan military officer Ronald Ojeda in Chile. Thus Chilean authorities discarded the Venezuelan far-right’s narrative that claimed that Venezuelan security forces were responsible for the crime, something that contradicts Venezuela’s clean record of respecting the human rights of political dissenters and oppositionists.
On Friday, March 1, the Office of the Chilean Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime confirmed that Ronald Ojeda had been murdered. His body was found inside a suitcase that had been buried under a cement structure in the working-class Maipú municipality, south of capital Santiago.
Special Prosecutor Héctor Barros reported to the media that it is “a complex case, linked to organized crime.” In this way, he ruled out any political motive behind the disappearance of the former military official, a fake news campaign that had been launched by far-right Venezuelan operators soon after the kidnapping.
Hector Barros,Fiscal especializado en crimen organizado y la Policía de Investigaciones de Chile confirmaron que el cuerpo hallado sin vida en Maipú corresponde a Ronald Ojeda.
El ex militar venezolano habría sido víctima de una operación llevada a cabo por el crimen organizado. pic.twitter.com/hyIhg2zvyQ
— Juan Fran Torres (@JuanfranTorres) March 2, 2024
“The approximate date of death indicates that it occurred between seven and ten days, coinciding with the date on which the kidnapping occurred,” declared Special Prosecutor Barros.
🇨🇱 El Fiscal del Equipo Contra el Crimen Organizado de Chile, Hector Barros, emitió tres órdenes de aprehensión por el caso del exteniente venezolano Ronald Ojeda Moreno.
🗣️ Esperamos tener los resultados de la autopsia para ratificar la causa de la muerte de Ojeda Moreno. pic.twitter.com/qeot35wOsE
— 𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖 (@polianalitica) March 2, 2024
The prosecutor also announced the arrest of a 17-year-old Venezuelan allegedly linked to the incident, and added that two other arrest warrants were issued, without providing further details.
Chilean media reports point at Ojeda’s involvement in illegal arms trafficking networks as the real reason behind his assassination. Other sources indicate his possible connection with the infamous Tren de Aragua criminal gang.
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Fake news debunked
The media coverage of the Ojeda case began with fake news published by the Venezuelan fugitive and CIA asset Iván Simonovis.
Simonovis used his social media accounts to accuse the Venezuelan government of being involved in the kidnapping of Ojeda despite the overall clean record of the Venezuelan government in respecting the human rights of dissenters living abroad, in contraposition to the terrible record of Pinochet’s Chile regarding political assassination inside and outside the country.
Chilean media considered Simonovis’s accusations as facts, thus showing their disdain for true journalism and their continued participation in smear campaigns against Venezuela.
Simonovis is what US mainstream media call a “super-cop,” with extensive training in the United States. He was the head of security in Caracas during the coup d’etat against President Hugo Chávez in 2002, and in 2009 he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the assassination of 19 Venezuelans during that coup.
In 2014 he was granted house arrest for an alleged “extremely difficult” medical condition. An international media campaign was launched to prove his “terrible” medical condition. In 2019 he fled from the house by climbing a 25-meter wall despite his “medical condition.” Hours later he was received in Washington as a hero.
Se los dije, la derecha chilena asesinó a Ronald Ojeda por pelearse las plazas de tráfico de armas en Chile.
Y son tan predecibles que hacen que aparezca su cadaver cuando la Corte Penal Internacional ataca a Venezuela y @NicolasMaduro está triunfando en la CELAC. https://t.co/gM5CkapGy9 pic.twitter.com/JGEtqIeFxH
— Ernesto (@ernestojmro) March 2, 2024
According to Iván Simonovis, Lieutenant Colonel of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) Alexander Granko planned the kidnapping of Ojeda in Chile, which was carried out by members of the DGCIM (Venezuelan counter-intelligence agency) who posed as Chilean immigration officials.
However, these accusations were made by the far-right operator and CIA asset without any type of evidence. At the time of the publication of the social media post, the Chilean authorities were not even aware of the kidnapping of Ojeda, due to which Simonovis should be as a person of interest in the Chilean special prosecutor’s investigation.
The Chilean prosecutor’s statements demonstrate that the Venezuelan authorities were not responsible for what happened to the former military officer. Dozens of Venezuelan former military officers accused of being involved in terrorist plots live outside Venezuela without any fear for their lives.
According to Chilean media, Ojeda belonged to a complex circle, and constantly changed addresses and telephone numbers. Furthermore, he suspected that somebody was looking for him. Chilean media reported that he even traveled illegally out of Chile at the end of last year, and that the trip was possibly linked with arms deals.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SC
