Chile’s Prosecutor’s Office asks the U.S. to interrogate Maduro for the crime of former opposition military officer Ronald Ojeda

Santiago de Chile.- The Chilean Prosecutor’s Office requested this Monday that the United States interrogate former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, imprisoned in a New York jail, in connection with the February 2024 murder of former Venezuelan military officer Ronald Ojeda, who was in Santiago as an asylum seeker. The request was made by the Chilean National Prosecutor, Ángel Valencia, to the United States Attorney General, Pam Bondi, in a meeting at the headquarters of the Department of Justice in Washington. “Prosecutor Bondi conveyed to us the disposition of the United States Department of Justice to continue cooperating in clarifying the homicide of Lieutenant Ronald Ojeda, not only considering the request for a statement from Maduro, but also providing all the information, background, and evidence they gather,” Valencia assured. However, the Chilean prosecutor pointed out, the statement “depends on Maduro’s willingness to cooperate,” who awaits trial in a New York jail since he was captured by the U.S. on January 3, accused of alleged drug trafficking. “The team of prosecutors led by prosecutor Héctor Barros and the police have already prepared a questionnaire of questions that would be sent to the authorities of the United States and to prosecutor Bondi, who expressed her best disposition to us,” added Valencia. We recommend reading:

The Ojeda Crime

A dissident of Chavismo and a political asylum seeker in Chile, Ojeda was kidnapped on February 21, 2024, at his home in Santiago, and his remains were found ten days later in a peripheral locality of the capital, buried under a concrete block. At 32 years old, Ojeda was a member of an anti-Chavista military group calling itself “Movement for Freedom and Democracy” and was arrested by Venezuelan authorities in April 2017 along with three other soldiers, but managed to escape and the Chilean government granted him political asylum in 2023. The Chilean Public Prosecutor’s Office maintains that his assassination had a “political motive” and suspects that the number two of Chavismo and Minister of the Interior of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, could be behind it. So far, several members of the ‘Los Piratas’ faction have been arrested, a cell of the transnational gang Tren de Aragua, which was in charge of the crime. The investigation into the murder of the former Venezuelan lieutenant caused clashes between Chile and Venezuela, who barely maintain bilateral relations.