In the early hours of this February 21, Venezuelan lieutenant Ronald Ojeda from Santiago de Chile was kidnapped. He was living in Santiago de Chile. Information suggests that Ojeda was kidnapped by Nicolás Maduro’s regime. It isn’t clear whether Maduro had Gabriel Boris’s consent.
Sources close to Ojeda report that the lieutenant was in his apartment, in Santiago, when a group of people, identified as immigration agents from Chile, violently broke into the apartment around 3:00 a.m. and kidnapped him.
Voz Media spoke exclusively with the renowned detective, former Caracas commissioner and persecuted politician Iván Simonovis, who was in charge of making the news of Ojeda's disappearance public. Simonovis explained in detail what happened.
"This morning a colleague of his contacted me. He informed me that in the early hours of today some individuals, wearing police uniforms, arrived at the residential complex where Lieutenant Ojeda lives with his wife and children. They identified themselves as immigration agents and broke into the apartment," says Simonovis.
"They broke in through the door. They entered the house. They subdued him, stripped him naked. The wife said they were Venezuelan citizens, military men, and they said they had to take him away," added the detective.
🚨 | Denuncian que funcionarios de la DGCIM chavista secuestraron ilegalmente al teniente Ronald Ojeda Moreno, militar desertor venezolano, en Chile. pic.twitter.com/YvE0PGwai6
— VOZ (@VozMediaUSA) February 21, 2024
Simonovis claims that the Venezuelans agents did not steal anything from Lieutenant Ojeda's house. They only took the lieutenant and his cell phones. They kidnapped him in his own vehicle, which was later found, "with the clothes and uniforms of Chilean immigration agents."
The lieutenant’s phones were also found inside the vehicle.
"Everything indicates that it was an operation directed by Venezuela. In fact, the latest information we have is that Lieutenant Ojeda is already in Venezuela," says Simonovis.
"What is worth asking is whether this happened with the consent of the Chilean government."
The commissioner, exiled in the United States, told Voz Media that at the moment no Chilean official has commented on the disappearance of the former military officer from Venezuela.
Simonovis said that the kidnapped lieutenant’s relatives are in the Chilean Prosecutor's Office as witnesses. The Chilean government has not allowed them to communicate with the press or use their phones.
Ronald Ojeda had already been imprisoned in Venezuela, in the Ramo Verde prison - where the renowned political leader Leopoldo López was also held - under accusation of a military conspiracy.
There has been a strong wave of repression in Venezuela, caused by reports of an alleged military plan to assassinate dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Recently, the dictatorship forcibly arrested the renowned human rights activist Rocío San Miguel, who was then subjected to confinement in Helicoide, the largest torture center in Latin America.
Intelligence expert Andrei Serbi Point said on his X account that "if it is confirmed that the DGCIM (General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence) kidnapped him in Chile and took him to Venezuela, it is very serious."
El diputado @AndresJouannet dice que de confirmarse que el ex preso político militar venezolano Ronald Ojeda Moreno fue secuestrado por agentes del régimen de Maduro infiltrados en Chile, el presidente @GabrielBoric debe tomar medidas "drásticas" sobre la relación con Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/fCVRazB2Fo
— Gabriel Bastidas (@Gbastidas) February 21, 2024
Chilean journalist José María Del Pino said that the Chilean police are looking for Lieutenant Ojeda and that his kidnapping has been reported to the prosecutor's office.
"The investigation is led by Prosecutor Barros. Teams from the Public Ministry, Carabineros, have been deployed," journalist Del Pino said on his X account.
