During his official visit to Italy and within the framework of the seminar commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Bernardo Leighton and his wife Ana María Fresno, the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, for the first time made a direct public accusation against the regime of Nicolás Maduro for its involvement in the murder of former Venezuelan lieutenant Ronald Ojeda.
In a speech delivered before Italian president Sergio Mattarella, Boric stated that "dictatorships and authoritarian leaders cross borders to impose fear when they believe they can do so with impunity," and explicitly cited the Ojeda case: "In Chile, we have the case of the murder of a former Venezuelan military officer, in which one of the suspects of having perpetrated the murder is the very regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro, who stole the elections in his homeland."
The statement by the Chilean president aligns with the main hypothesis held by the Chilean justice system, according to which Ojeda's murder was allegedly ordered from the highest political and military levels of the Venezuelan government.
Chilean prosecutor Héctor Barros has indicated that there is "clear evidence" that points directly to Diosdado Cabello as the mastermind behind the crime, although he emphasized that further evidence is still required to formally press charges.
Ronald Ojeda, 32 years old, had escaped from a Venezuelan prison after being arrested for his opposition to the Chavista regime. In Chile, where he was living as a political asylee, he was kidnapped on February 21, 2024, by individuals posing as police officers.
Ten days later, his body was found inside a suitcase buried under cement in a peripheral area of Santiago. The Prosecutor's Office ruled out links to Chilean organized crime and attributed the motive for the murder to political reasons.
The case has further strained the already deteriorated relations between Chile and Venezuela. Boric has supported the work of the Public Prosecutor's Office and has not ruled out turning to the International Criminal Court if direct involvement by the Venezuelan government is confirmed. Meanwhile, from Caracas, Attorney General Tarek William Saab has accused the Chilean Prosecutor's Office of manipulating the case to politically harm Maduro's government.
