MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuelan military refugee in Chile is abducted from his home in an apparent commando operation

Ojeda Moreno spent 249 days at the Ramo Verde prison in Venezuela before escaping and seeking political asylum in Chile, which he was granted late last year

A former Venezuelan Army Lieutenant who had fled his country and had been granted political asylum in Chile has been abducted apparently in a commando operation sanctioned by Caracas, it was reported Wednesday in Santiago.

Venezuelan Army Retired Lieutenant Ronald Ojeda Moreno's family spoke of a possible kidnapping to the Public Prosecutor's Office in the Chilean capital, according to local media. The abduction reportedly took place early Monday in the commune of Independencia when four people arrived in a car posing as immigration officials wearing ballistic helmets and bulletproof vests. Other sources claimed the perpetrators were either Military Counterintelligence agents of the Nicolás Maduro government or that they could be linked to organized crime given Ojeda Moreno's former access to classified information that rendered him a liability.

Ojeda Moreno was granted political asylum by President Gabriel Boric Font's government in late 2023 after escaping in 2017 from the Venezuelan prison of Ramo Verde where he was placed on charges of rebellion, instigation of rebellion, mutiny, and treason. On March 25, 2017, he was arrested with other colleagues by the Scientific, Criminal, and Criminalistic Investigations Corps (Cicpc) for their alleged involvement “in conspiracy and planning of terrorist actions” on behalf of the self-styled Movement for Freedom and Democracy, which does not recognize Maduro as commander and chief of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces.

The officer spent 249 days in jail, during which he claimed he was subjected to torture. On Nov. 30, that year, the nine officers held in Ramo Verde escaped while transferred back to the detention center after testifying in a military court. Four of them have since been recaptured in an operation that left one person dead and another injured.

Ojeda Moreno is one of the 33 military officers Maduro demoted and expelled from the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) for “conspiracy,” according to Venezuela's Defense Ministry. Ojeda is “involved in conspiracies through the planning of criminal and terrorist actions to attack the legitimately constituted system of government, the authorities and institutions of the State and the Venezuelan people.” The Ministry said in a document dated last month that these officers were “not worthy of belonging to our ranks, for having violated with their conduct the national and military Laws and Regulations.”

Chile's Undersecretary of the Interior Manuel Monsalve said in a press briefing Wednesday that no line of investigation was to be dropped. “The government has asked the police to reinforce border controls,” Monsalve stressed.