Chile alerts Interpol to kidnapping of former Venezuelan soldier in Santiago

The Chilean Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, announced Wednesday afternoon that the government had altered Interpol to the kidnapping of a former Venezuelan soldier in Santiago. The Chilean government also strengthened security measures at the border as a result of the kidnapping, which took place at 3:15 a.m. Wednesday in the municipality of Independencia, in the northern sector of the Chilean city. According to a video on social media, the former soldier was kidnapped from his apartment by four hooded individuals who, according to initial reports, pretended to be officers from the Investigative Police (PDI).

The victim has been identified as Ronald Leandro Ojeda Moreno. The government did not specify how long he had been living in Chile, nor whether he was a political refugee — information that by law cannot be made public, said Monsalve.

Like all kidnapping cases, the investigation has been classified as confidential, both by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and by the Anti-Kidnapping Brigade (BIPE) of the PDI. “As many hypotheses have been raised, the government is also considering all possible hypotheses,” said Monsalve on Wednesday. One of the theories, raised by the former Venezuelan security secretary Iván Simonovis, who opposes the Maduro government, suggests that the operation may have been orchestrated by the Venezuelan General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM).

According to the newspaper La Tercera, Ojeda is one of the 33 soldiers who were expelled from the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) on charges of conspiracy on January 24, as announced by Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.

Ojeda was taken from the 14th floor of his apartment building, and the kidnapping was recorded by security cameras. Hours later, authorities found a car that may be linked to the crime in the municipality of Renca. Inside the vehicle there was a vest, presumably belonging to the PDI, and a bulletproof helmet. The investigation is being led by prosecutor Héctor Barros, who coordinates the Organized Crime and Homicide Team (ECOH) in the Metropolitan Region — a unit that was created in November in response to the unprecedented rise in homicides in Chile.

In his address from La Moneda palace, Monsalve said that “in these cases what’s important is protecting the physical integrity of the possible victim and their family” and called for the public to respect that the investigation was confidential. Monsalve said that the government had asked Chilean national law enforcement, the Carabineros, and the PDI to strengthen border control.

Senator Francisco Chahuán, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Senate, described the Ojeda case as “a sensitive situation.” “We have been in permanent contact with the government. It is a case that must be investigated with celerity and great rigor due to the different hypotheses that have been raised,” he added.

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