SAO PAULO (AP) – The Chilean authorities are set to make an official request to the United States for the extradition of a Venezuelan man accused of the abduction and murder of a former Venezuelan army officer and dissident in Chile last year. The case has garnered widespread attention and sent shockwaves through Venezuela’s extensive diaspora community.
Chile asserts that the heinous crime, involving the disappearance and brutal killing of Ronald Ojeda, a 32-year-old former lieutenant, was orchestrated by the Venezuelan criminal organization known as Tren de Aragua, which has been recently labeled as a terrorist group by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Officials are determined to bring the suspect, who has been identified as Edgar BenÃtez, back to Santiago, the capital of Chile, where the gruesome crime transpired just over a year ago. The Chilean authorities made a gruesome discovery when they found Ojeda’s remains stuffed inside a suitcase, encased in concrete, and doused in quicklime in an attempt to hasten decomposition. Ojeda had gone missing on February 21 the previous year.
With a total of 24 individuals apprehended across multiple countries, this case has shed light on the extensive reach of one of Latin America’s most notorious criminal gangs, which has exploited Venezuelan refugees fleeing economic turmoil and political persecution in their homeland.
The recent announcement of the extradition request is just one in a series of similar requests made by Chile to other nations in recent months, as law enforcement agencies across the region apprehend members of the Tren de Aragua gang implicated in Ojeda’s murder.
In Chile, legal proceedings are underway to formally charge the 19 individuals currently in custody within the country. Additionally, three suspects have been detained in Colombia and two in the United States, with BenÃtez now being amongst the latter.
BenÃtez, who faces charges of kidnapping, homicide, receiving stolen goods, and involvement in a criminal organization in Chile, was apprehended in South Bend, Indiana, on February 12. Once the extradition request is processed in the U.S., the case will proceed through the American legal system, a process that could span several months.
As of now, BenÃtez has not publicly addressed the allegations leveled against him.
The gravity of the case was heightened earlier this year when Chilean prosecutors implicated senior figures within the Venezuelan government, led by leftist President Nicolás Maduro, in the orchestration of Ojeda’s murder. The Chilean Attorney General revealed that a protected witness had implicated Diosdado Cabello, a prominent minister within Maduro’s cabinet, in the plot.
Venezuelan officials vehemently denied these accusations, further straining diplomatic relations between the two nations. If proven true, experts suggest that this case would represent a disturbing escalation in Maduro’s efforts to quash dissent and maintain his authoritarian grip on power.
