Chile Sentences Venezuelan Gang Member to 20 Years for Kidnapping and Killing Dissident
Prosecutors said he kept watch and filmed the abduction, while 16 other defendants are set to go on trial next week.
- On Oct 15, 2026, Judge Gloria Canales sentenced Maickel Villegas to 20 years in prison for his role in the kidnapping and murder of Ronald Ojeda, a former Venezuelan military officer.
- Ojeda fled Venezuela in 2017 after opposing the government, later receiving refugee status in Chile. He was abducted from his Santiago apartment by men posing as police officers.
- Villegas Rodr played a "strategic role" in the kidnapping, said Alejandra Valdivieso, a lawyer representing Ojeda's family. The 20-year sentence was the maximum prosecutors could seek under commitments Chile made to Costa Rica.
- Sixteen other defendants are set to go on trial next week. Prosecutors including Mesa said "no defendant in the upcoming trial is directly linked to an order from abroad."
- The killing rattled Venezuelan exiles in Chile, home to one of Latin America's largest Venezuelan communities. A separate investigation continues into allegations that Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello ordered the crime.
30 Articles
30 Articles
Ojeda lived as a refugee in the Chilean capital after the Venezuelan government told him to participate, along with other uniformed men, in a conspiracy against the deposed President Nicolás Maduro. The Chilean Prosecutor’s Office claims that he was killed on behalf of the Chavista government. Maikel Villegas, a 28-year-old Venezuelan, was convicted on Thursday of “kidnapping with murder” for watching the victim, filming his kidnapping and trans…
Associated Press News
Chile sentences Venezuelan gang member to 20 years for kidnapping and killing dissident
A Chilean court has sentenced a Venezuelan man to 20 years in prison for helping kidnap and kill dissident Ronald Ojeda.
The accused was able to prove the above-mentioned offences, and therefore received a pretrial report.
Ojeda lived as a refugee in the Chilean capital after the Venezuelan government told him to participate, along with other uniformed people, in a conspiracy against the deposed President Nicolás Maduro
The sentence set the maximum penalty allowed following diplomatic commitments made to complete his extradition from Costa Rica
The Second Criminal Trial Court of Santiago sentenced Maickel Villegas to 20 years in prison for his participation in the kidnapping and murder of former Venezuelan lieutenant Ronald Ojeda. The ruling was handed down on Thursday and made Villegas the first person convicted in oral proceedings for this crime, committed in [...] The post Ronald Ojeda Case: Maickel Villegas is sentenced to 20 years in prison for kidnapping with homicide appeared fi…
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