Daniel Lozano
Updated Saturday, March 2, 2024-01:09
Venezuela Chile reinforces the border and airports after the mysterious kidnapping of a Venezuelan soldier
The
Chilean Investigative Police (PDI)
found this Friday the body of a man buried in cement during the
search for
Venezuelan Lieutenant Ronald Ojeda, kidnapped nine days ago by an armed commando of four people with police training.
The body was found, after several hours of investigation, in an irregular settlement in
Maipú,
in the northern area of the capital.
The disappearance of this soldier, who in 2017 managed to escape from the
Ramo Verde prison,
near
Caracas,
has been experienced as a
political scandal in Chile
and has put relations between both countries into question.
Gabriel Boric
is the only president of the continental left who has dared to censure the human rights violations carried out in
Venezuela.
In the hours before the body was found, the PDI had identified two Venezuelans involved in the kidnapping, apparently as drivers of the vehicles in which the commando was traveling.
A 17-year-old boy was the first arrested throughout the day.
Venezuelan activists immediately pointed out to the
General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM)
of being behind the operation against a soldier accused of his alleged involvement in the
"White Bracelet" operation,
the same one for which the Spanish-Venezuelan activist
Rocío San Miguel
has been imprisoned accused of terrorism, conspiracy and treason.
Ojeda,
a political refugee
in Chile, lived with his partner, his sister and his four-year-old son.
His girlfriend recognized the Venezuelan accent of the kidnappers.
In the images provided that day by security cameras, it was seen how the commando took Ojeda away at dawn, handcuffed and half-naked.
The assailants wore Chilean police uniforms, helmets and bulletproof vests.
"Do not allow your country to become a victim like my son because of these kidnappers.
I am the mother of a man who fights for his morals
, for freedom and for life. Help me keep hope,"
Omaira Moreno cried through tears.
,
mother of the lieutenant.
Since his kidnapping became known, the Chilean government ordered to strengthen controls on the border, at airports and in the country's ports.
The lieutenant is one of the soldiers who
in January were demoted and expelled from the Army in an event presided over by
Nicolás Maduro
's most important generals
in a Caracas barracks.
Only a part of the 33 demoted were present, punished and naked before the troops.
Major General
Tomás Martínez Macías,
two colonels, six lieutenant colonels, nine majors, two captains and six sergeants are the highest positions included in that conspiracy.
It is not the first time that Ojeda was accused of conspiring against Nicolás Maduro.
In 2017, the now missing lieutenant, a member of the
Movement for Freedom and Democracy,
remained in prison for seven months for rebellion and treason.
In the escape from Ramo Verde, the same military prison where opposition leader
Leopoldo López
was imprisoned, one of the prisoners lost his life.
Several soldiers took advantage of the transfer to the courts to take the police guarding them hostage.
"We pointed our weapons at them and fled with the vehicle and some weapons, but we did not hurt any of them," Ojeda himself later told a radio station.