In the early hours of February 21, security forces in Santiago, Chile, executed a dramatic raid on a 14th-floor apartment, apprehending Ronald Ojeda, a 32-year-old former Venezuelan Army officer. Ojeda, who was living in Chile under asylum, was forcibly taken in front of his wife and young son, reportedly while in his underwear.
Ojeda, a political dissident involved in efforts to overthrow Nicolás Maduro, had been labeled a traitor by the Venezuelan government shortly before his abduction. His wife alerted Chilean authorities, mentioning that one of the captors possessed a Venezuelan accent.
Approximately nine days later, authorities discovered Ojeda's remains buried under concrete in a suitcase, leading to suspicions of his assassination being orchestrated by Maduro’s government. If confirmed, this incident marks a significant escalation in efforts to silence political dissent by Venezuelan officials operating abroad.
The Maduro administration has vehemently denied any involvement in Ojeda's murder, suggesting an alternative narrative of a "false flag operation" by the Chilean state. Meanwhile, Chilean authorities are investigating the case, with hearings underway for 19 individuals accused in the assassination plot, many of whom are allegedly connected to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan crime syndicate.
Chilean Interior Minister Carolina Tohá stated that multiple witnesses claim the Venezuelan government hired Tren de Aragua to carry out the murder, and that significant figures within the Maduro administration were implicated. However, she also acknowledged that while political assassination remains a hypothesis, it has yet to be conclusively proven.
The investigation has revealed that Venezuelan counterintelligence agents may have operated from their embassy in Santiago. These findings coincide with a period of renewed diplomatic engagement between the U.S. and the Maduro regime, amid concerns over the treatment of Venezuelan dissidents abroad.
Historically, Maduro's government has faced accusations of human rights violations, with evidence suggesting that it has used a network of agents and criminal groups to intimidate and eliminate dissidents outside Venezuela's borders.
As the investigation continues, the implications of Ojeda's assassination reverberate throughout the Venezuelan diaspora, heightening fears among dissidents regarding their safety and the lengths to which the Maduro government may go to suppress opposition.