Santiago, Chile — Chilean prosecutors said Friday they plan to formally request that Venezuela extradite two of its citizens to stand trial on charges related to the kidnapping and murder of a Venezuelan dissident in Chile earlier this year, a case that has strained relations between the South American countries.
Prosecutors ruled that the murder of the activist and former army lieutenant was planned in Venezuela. If proven, the horrific murder on Chilean soil could signal a new front in President Nicolás Maduro’s government’s widespread crackdown on the opposition ahead of his re-election bid later this year.
Venezuela denied involvement.
Chilean prosecutors on Friday publicly implicated Venezuela’s largest criminal organization, Trem Aragua, in the crime. Authorities have also hinted that they believe those responsible for the murder of 32-year-old Ronald Ojeda – who sought asylum in Chile after protesting Maduro’s administration – may have worked on behalf of the Venezuelan government.
Ojeda’s open policy, prosecutors said, ruled out speculation that the group killed him because of his participation in illicit street gang activities. Trem Aragua never made a ransom demand. Ojeda was killed just hours after being kidnapped.
“We are talking about a victim who participated in actions against the Venezuelan government,” said Héctor Barros, the prosecutor leading the case.
Raising even more suspicion, Barros said, the disposal of Ojeda’s corpse was eerily methodical – unusual for the Aragua Train. On March 1, after 10 days of feverish searches, Chilean authorities found his body crammed into a suitcase, buried three feet beneath a building in the seedy suburbs of Santiago, sprinkled with white lime powder to speed decomposition. and covered with cement.
Chilean police illegally detained a 17-year-old Venezuelan in the country in connection with the case. Demanding that Venezuela cooperate in the investigation, the Chilean government promised to pursue the extradition of the other two suspects who fled to Venezuela. Once Venezuela receives the request, the process will proceed to the Venezuelan courts, which will determine whether the suspects can be extradited before the Judiciary makes the final decision.
However, Venezuela has so far not cooperated with Chile’s previous extradition requests in other criminal cases.
“The eyes of the world will be watching how (Venezuela) acts,” Interior Minister Carolina Tohá told reporters on Friday. She said Chile saw the crime “with the greatest severity.”
Ojeda, a former Venezuelan military officer, escaped from Venezuelan detention in 2017 and sought refuge in Chile, which granted him asylum last year. From exile, he continued to express opposition to Maduro on social media until his disappearance.
Surveillance camera footage from the morning of February 21, the date of Ojeda’s abduction, shows three men dressed as Chilean police officers taking him from his apartment and placing him in a vehicle.
The incident brought already tense relations between Chile and Venezuela to a turning point.
Santiago recalled his ambassador to Caracas on Thursday over Ojeda’s kidnapping. Calls grew for the government to cut ties with Venezuela after its Foreign Minister, Yvan Gill, dismissed the Aragua Convoy prison gang and its reach throughout Latin America as a “fiction created by the media. international communication”.
The case comes at a delicate moment for Maduro, who is running for re-election in July. In recent months, his long campaign to crush dissent has drawn widespread criticism and efforts by the Biden administration to pave the way for free and fair elections in the country.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
