The Chilean prosecutor Héctor Barros reported this Friday night on the multiple procedures he has carried out in recent hours together with the Investigative Police (PDI) to try to locate the kidnappers of Ronald Leandro Ojeda Moreno, 32, a former military man. Venezuelan – an opponent of the Government of Nicolás Maduro – who was taken by four people from his apartment in Santiago de Chile in the early hours of Wednesday, February 21, 10 days ago.
The prosecutor classified the events as “a complex operation linked to organized crime” and assured that the arrest of a 17-year-old Venezuelan citizen “who is irregularly in the country” has been achieved.
Along with reporting that there are other arrest warrants pending execution, which would affect others involved in the events, Barros said that raids have been undertaken in different areas of the Chilean capital in search of evidence and to make arrests.
Barros, who coordinates the Organized Crime and Homicide Teams, ECOH, in Santiago de Chile, added that investigations are being carried out in the municipality of Maipú, in the western area of the city.
And he confirmed a key fact: “In the afternoon a body was found buried, inside a suitcase, under a cement structure.
"It is being determined who would be the victim of this incident," said the investigator.
It will be the PDI Homicide Brigade and the Legal Medical Service (SML) that must identify the body found this Friday.
The complaint of the kidnapping in Chile of Venezuelan Ronald Leandro Ojeda Moreno was reported by his family first to Carabineros and then to the PDI.
It happened at 3:15 in the morning on Wednesday, February 21, 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.
In parallel to the first investigations, 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 message he attached a video, supposedly of the moment in which the ex-military man is taken from his apartment.
It was only at eight in the afternoon on Wednesday the 21st 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.
10 days ago, the kidnapping of Ojeda has been placed at the forefront of the concerns of the Government, the Prosecutor's Office and the police.
This Friday, Monsalve referred to the kidnapping of a former Venezuelan military officer, for which no reward has been requested: "It is evident that progress has been made in the proceedings," said Monsalve, responding to the attacks of the Chilean opposition that has accused the Executive of ambiguity in information about the plot.
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