Chilean Interior Minister Manuel Monsalve reported on Wednesday afternoon that in addition to protecting the country's borders, the government had requested an international alert from Interpol following the kidnapping of a former Venezuelan military officer at 3:15 p.m. this morning in his apartment in the municipality of Independencia, in the northern part of Santiago . According to a video shared on social networks, the incident was committed by four masked people who, according to initial versions, posed as investigative police officers.
The former military man was identified as Ronald Leandro Ojeda Moreno, who did not say how long he lived in Chile. Likewise, the government has not confirmed whether he had political refugee status or not, as Monsalve said it was information that was not allowed to be made public by law.
The investigation, like all kidnapping cases, was classified as confidential by both the State Ministry and the investigative police's Anti-Kidnapping Brigade (BIPE). “Since many hypotheses have been put forward, the government also assumes responsibility for all possible hypotheses,” the undersecretary said in a statement carried by La Moneda after a meeting with Interior and Justice Ministers Carolina Tohá and Luis Cordero, as well as Foreign Ministry Minister Alberto Van Klaveren. One of these hypotheses, spread by former Venezuelan commissioner Iván Simonovis, now an opponent, points to an operation orchestrated by Venezuela's General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM).
According to the newspaper La Tercera, Ojeda is one of the 33 soldiers expelled from the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) for conspiracy on January 24, as reported by the Minister of Defense in the government of Nicolás Maduro, Vladimir Padrino.
The former military man's abduction took place on the 14th floor of his apartment building and was recorded by surveillance cameras. Hours later, a car that could be linked to the crime was located in the municipality of Renca, containing a vest, presumably from the investigative police (PDI), and a bulletproof helmet. The investigation is being led by prosecutor Héctor Barros, who coordinates the Metropolitan Organized Crime and Homicide Team (ECOH), a unit created in November due to the unprecedented increase in this type of crime in Chile.
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