The complaint of the kidnapping in Chile of the Venezuelan Ronald Leandro Ojeda Moreno, 32, was reported by his family first to the Carabineros and then to the Investigative Police (PDI).
It happened at 3:15 a.m. on Wednesday, in a building in the municipality of Independencia, in the northern sector of Santiago.
According to the video from the security cameras, three individuals in PDI uniforms, with supposed bulletproof vests, dark helmets and their faces covered, arrived at his apartment on the 14th floor and took him away.
A fourth stayed with the janitor.
Ojeda was barefoot and only wearing his underwear.
In the parking lot you see a gray car with a blue beacon.
On Wednesday, shortly after eleven in the morning, the press reported a PDI operation on the Central Highway, in the municipality of Renca, regarding a gray car that had been abandoned around five in the morning.
Police clothing was found inside the car, which is why it was linked to the kidnapping report.
Until that time, the alleged victim had not been identified.
Ojeda's name was made public shortly after three in the afternoon, when the Chilean media reported on the alleged kidnapping, investigated by the Organized Crime and Homicide Team (ECOH) of the capital, a unit that was created in November 2023 due to the unprecedented increase in this type of crimes in Chile and coordinated by prosecutor Héctor Barros.
A hypothesis launched by social networks
In parallel to the investigations, at 12:30 on Wednesday the former Venezuelan commissioner Iván Simonovis, today an opponent of the Government of Venezuela, through his social network account X published the name of Ojeda, whom he identified as a lieutenant.
He was the one who targeted an operation orchestrated by the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) of Venezuela.
In his post he attached a video, supposedly of the moment in which the ex-military man is taken from his apartment.
It was only at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday that the Chilean Government confirmed the fact.
This was done by the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, who at all times referred to Ojeda as a “Venezuelan citizen,” without mentioning his status as a former military officer.
“Indeed, there was a kidnapping of a Venezuelan citizen during the early hours of the morning, as I believe is public knowledge, in the commune of Independencia.”
He also emphasized that the Prosecutor's Office declared the investigation secret.
“What matters here is protecting the integrity of the eventual victim and his family,” he said.
And he added: “As many hypotheses have been raised, the Government also takes charge of all possible hypotheses,” without mentioning what they were.
Monsalve's was a cautious statement, which he offered from La Moneda after holding a meeting with the Ministers of the Interior and Justice, Carolina Tohá and Luis Cordero, and Foreign Minister Alberto Van Klaveren.
He also reported that an international alert was requested from Interpol and that the country's borders were reinforced.
Until Wednesday, the Chilean Government had not contacted the Venezuelan authorities, something that did happen on Thursday.
Ojeda's profile
Ronald Leandro Ojeda Moreno settled in Chile in 2017. On his social networks he has been an active opponent of the Venezuelan government.
The Administration of Gabriel Boric has not confirmed whether or not he had the status of political refugee, despite the fact that it has been reported that he does have it since the end of December 2023. Monsalve has said that by law it is a situation that cannot be reveal.
Ojeda, former first lieutenant and trained as a commando, is one of the 33 soldiers of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) who were expelled and demoted on January 24.
The Venezuelan Ministry of Defense published a list in which his name appeared.
It was then explained that the military was involved in “criminal and terrorist” actions against the president, Nicolás Maduro, and that they faced charges of “treason against the country.”
Rise in extortionate kidnappings
Kidnappings in Chile, of an extortion type, have been on the rise, promoted above all by transnational gangs.
If in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, between 2016 and 2020 there were between six to eight cases per year, in 2021 they reached 26. The jump was in 2022, when 46 cases were registered.
As of November 2023, there were 45, according to information from the PDI.
One of those cases, although it was in Rancagua, a city located about 85 kilometers from Santiago, was the kidnapping in broad daylight of the Chilean metallurgical businessman Rudy Basualdo, 50, released on November 10 after 40 hours and after millionaire payment.
Seven people were arrested for the kidnapping, the last on Tuesday.
The Rancagua prosecutor, Javier Von Bischoffshausen, targeted Los Piratas del Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization that “is partly located abroad, specifically in Venezuela.”
On February 13 there was a case.
The police arrested two suspects involved in the kidnapping for ransom in Renca of two Venezuelans, who were held captive for 30 hours.
The captors requested 50,000 dollars (about 50 million Chilean pesos), sending messages to relatives who were in contact both in Chile and Venezuela.
The case of Ojeda Moreno has been, until now, different,
which explains why the Government and the Prosecutor's Office have aligned themselves by indicating that they do not rule out any hypothesis.
But, privately, authorities are considering at least four.
One of them is possible international intervention, but at the same level as a possible kidnapping for ransom, a kidnapping linked to a gang or even self-kidnapping.
Unlike other kidnapping cases, almost 48 hours after the report, no ransom has been requested.
There are, however, situations where these requests have occurred several days later.
The location is also noted, a 14th floor, and the time at which it occurred (at dawn) and not on public roads, since in most situations the victims are forcibly put into a vehicle.
It is also the first time, since the rise of these crimes, that the captors are police officers.
Diplomatic negotiations begin
On Thursday, shortly after 2:00 p.m., the Chilean Executive referred to Ojeda's case for the second time.
Undersecretary Monsalve did it again. The Government, he said, filed a complaint and will be part of the case.
Cautiously, he again referred to the kidnapping of “a Venezuelan citizen.”
And he insisted that, “in serious crimes, the Government is open to all hypotheses.”
Monsalve also reported that in the morning he held a meeting by videoconference with Gabriel Boric, who is on vacation, and the ministers of the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Justice.
“Obviously, the president sees this as a priority,” he said.
Shortly before, there was another meeting with the national prosecutor, Ángel Valencia;
prosecutor Héctor Barros, who coordinates the team against Organized Crime and Homicides and the senior officers of the Investigative Police.
The Government took a further step, as it confirmed that there are diplomatic efforts with Venezuelan authorities through the Chilean ambassador to Venezuela, Jaime Gazmuri.
And that the police have also made contact with their peers.
“Our ambassador is already making arrangements to be able to have a conversation with the vice minister for the Americas of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry and we have contact at all levels: Government, police and through the corresponding prosecutors' offices,” said minister spokesperson Camila Vallejo.
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