The Chilean prosecutor Héctor Barros reported this Friday night that the body that had been found in the afternoon in a neighborhood in the municipality of Maipú, in the western area of Santiago de Chile, corresponds to that of Ronald Leandro Ojeda Moreno, 32 years old. , a former Venezuelan military man – an opponent of the Government of Nicolás Maduro – who was kidnapped by four people from his apartment in Santiago de Chile in the early hours of Wednesday, February 21, 10 days ago.
“The approximate date of death indicates that it is between seven and 10 days, coinciding with the date on which the kidnapping occurred,” said Barros about a police incident that has been placed at the forefront of the concerns of both the Government, the political class, the prosecutors and the police.
Shortly before confirming Ojeda's identification, the prosecutor had classified the events as “a complex operation linked to organized crime” and, at the same time, reported the arrest of a 17-year-old Venezuelan citizen, “who is irregularly in the country".
He said that there are new arrest warrants pending execution, which would affect others involved in the events, and that raids have been undertaken in different areas of the Chilean capital in search of evidence and to carry out the arrests.
In short, the prosecution this Friday began to tighten its grip on the kidnappers.
Barros, who coordinates the Organized Crime and Homicide Teams, ECOH, in Santiago de Chile, before confirming the discovery of Ojeda's remains, referred to the body found: “In the afternoon, a buried body was found inside a suitcase, under a cement structure.
“It is being determined who would be the victim of that event,” said the investigator, without yet referring to the identification.
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 subjects with false 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,” said Monsalve, who did not rule out any investigative hypothesis that day.
10 days ago, the kidnapping of Ojeda was established as a priority of the State.
The motive for the crime is still not clear, because unlike the kidnappings that have been carried out in Chile starting in 2022, of the extortion type, in the case of Ojeda the captors did not ask for money or communicate to intimidate the family in exchange. to release it.
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