Member of Tren de Aragua sentenced to 20 years for murder of Venezuelan dissident in Chile
A Chilean court sentenced Maickel Villegas Rodríguez to 20 years in prison for the abduction and homicide of former Venezuelan military officer Ronald Ojeda in Santiago.
Chilean court sentences Tren de Aragua member to 20 years for Ojeda's death
A Chilean court on Thursday sentenced Maickel David Villegas Rodríguez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan, to 20 years in prison for his participation in the abduction and murder of Ronald Ojeda, a former Venezuelan military officer and political dissident, according to chicagotribune.com.
Villegas Rodríguez, identified by prosecutors as a member of a local branch of Tren de Aragua—a Venezuelan criminal organisation designated as a foreign terrorist group by the United States government—was the first defendant to face trial for Ojeda's death. A further 16 accused individuals will stand trial next week.
According to prosecutors, Villegas Rodríguez was responsible for surveillance of Ojeda's apartment and recorded the abduction to send evidence to the gang's leaders. The court found him guilty of participating in the execution of the abduction, which resulted in the victim's death. The 20-year sentence corresponds to the maximum that prosecutors could request under commitments made by Chile to Costa Rica during the extradition process.
Alejandra Valdivieso, the Ojeda family's lawyer, expressed satisfaction with the sentence, although she noted that no conviction can repair the harm suffered by his relatives.
Ojeda was 32 years old and had fled Venezuela in 2017 after being accused of plotting against the government of President Nicolás Maduro. In February 2024, shortly after Chile granted him refugee status, he was abducted from his apartment in the capital by men who presented themselves as police officers. His body was found inside a suitcase buried under concrete.
The crime shocked the community of Venezuelan exiles in Chile, one of the Latin American countries with the highest concentration of Venezuelan nationals. Chilean prosecutors maintain that Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela's Interior Minister, ordered the murder and paid a Tren de Aragua leader to carry it out. If confirmed, that accusation would cast doubt on the Chilean state's capacity to protect political exiles within its territory.
The Venezuelan government denies any involvement in the homicide. The charge against Cabello remains under investigation and did not form part of the trial against Villegas Rodríguez.
Source: Google News CL — Crime