Chile confirms extradition of Maickel Villegas

The Chilean Prosecutor’s Office announced this Thursday the decision of the Costa Rican Criminal Court to extradite Maikel Villegas Rodríguez, the main suspect in the murder of former Venezuelan military man Ronald Ojeda and who was arrested in the Central American country last July.

“The Costa Rican Criminal Court ruled in favor of Chile’s extradition request for Michael Villegas, a Venezuelan citizen involved in the kidnapping and murder of former Lieutenant Ojeda of Venezuela,” said Juan Pablo Glasinovic, director of the International Cooperation and Extraditions Unit of the Chilean Public Prosecutor’s Office, in a message to the press.

Villegas, a Venezuelan national, was arrested on July 12 while crossing the border between Costa Rica and Panama on a bus bound for Nicaragua. Following his arrest, the Chilean Prosecutor’s Office filed an extradition request, which was first accepted by the Court of Appeals in Santiago and now by the Costa Rican courts.

Glasinovic pointed out that the Costa Rican court’s decision was issued on September 16 in the first instance, so “an appeal is possible.” If there is no such appeal, “the State of Chile has two months to go and find Mr. Michael Villegas and bring him (to the country),” he added.

Villegas was charged in absentia with the kidnapping and murder of former military officer Ronald Ojeda, which occurred last February in Santiago and shocked the country.

A dissident of Nicolás Maduro’s government and a political asylum seeker in Chile, Ojeda was kidnapped on February 21 from his home in Santiago and his remains were found ten days later in a town on the outskirts of the capital, buried under a cement block.

So far, only one 17-year-old Venezuelan youth has been arrested for this crime. He has been held in a juvenile detention center since May. In addition to Villegas, the Chilean justice system has issued another arrest warrant against another Venezuelan citizen, Walter de Jesús Rodríguez Pérez, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

In April, Chilean prosecutors linked the crime to the transnational criminal gang Tren de Aragua, formed in a Venezuelan prison and spread across Chile, Peru, Colombia and Bolivia, and asked Venezuelan authorities for support in clarifying the events.

The case sparked friction between Chile and Venezuela and accusations of a lack of cooperation on the part of Santiago towards Caracas.