Tren de Aragua: 20 years' imprisonment for kidnapping and murder of Ronald Ojeda in Chile
Chilean justice has sentenced Maickel Villegas to 20 years' imprisonment for the kidnapping and murder of former Venezuelan military officer Ronald Ojeda, a crime linked to the Tren de Aragua.
20-year prison sentence in Chile for the murder of Venezuelan dissident Ronald Ojeda
Chilean justice handed down a sentence of 20 years' imprisonment on Thursday, 15 October, against Maickel David Villegas Rodríguez for the kidnapping and murder of former Venezuelan military officer Ronald Ojeda, which occurred in 2024, according to elpitazo.net.
The court found Villegas guilty of the crimes of kidnapping and homicide, imposing maximum-degree major prison time in his capacity as the direct perpetrator of the crime. The sentence, reached in early October, is the first handed down by oral trial in this case, following a process that began on 10 September.
Villegas was extradited to Chile from Costa Rica in November 2024. The Public Prosecutor's Office identified him as responsible for gathering audiovisual material to document the execution of the kidnapping and murder. He acted within the framework of the Tren de Aragua cell known as Los Piratas.
The case already had convictions for three other individuals involved, obtained previously through an abbreviated procedure.
Ojeda, political refugee murdered in Chile
Ronald Ojeda was 32 years old at the time of his death. He had fled Venezuela in 2017 after being accused of conspiracy against the government of Nicolás Maduro, and the Chilean State granted him political refugee status in late 2023.
Prosecutor Álex Cortez told the local press that the oral trial corresponds only to the accused Villegas and that there are still open lines of investigation, including the political motive for the crime. The Public Ministry points to alleged payments from the Venezuelan government, specifically from Diosdado Cabello, to leaders of the Tren de Aragua.
"This oral trial is with respect to only one accused individual (Villegas); there are open lines within which the political motive is found," Cortez stated.
Mass trial underway against 16 accused individuals
Thirty-two people have been identified as linked to the crime in the case. Sixteen of them, already prosecuted in Chile, are facing a mass oral trial that began on 20 October.
Among those accused are Rafael Gámez Salas, known as "El Turko", identified as the leader of the organisation in Chile and extradited from the United States in late August; and Luis Alfredo Carrillo Ortiz, alias "El Gocho", extradited from Colombia.
Six arrest warrants remain in effect. One of them corresponds to Héctor Guerrero Flores, alias "Niño Guerrero", the top leader of the Tren de Aragua, who was murdered in Venezuela last June.
The Tren de Aragua emerged in Venezuelan prisons and has extended its operations to Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Chile, countries where authorities attribute numerous crimes to it.
Source: Google News VE — Crime