SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile announced Friday that one of the suspects being sought in the kidnapping and killing of a dissident Venezuelan soldier on Chilean soil early this year has been arrested in Costa Rica.
The slaying in February caused shock in Chile, where Ronald Ojeda, a former lieutenant and self-described political prisoner, had sought asylum after protesting against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The case has strained relations between the South American nations. Chilean authorities have suggested Venezuelan officials orchestrated Ojeda’s killing, opening a new front in the campaign by Maduro’s government against dissent. Venezuela has denied involvement.
The development comes at a sensitive time for Maduro, who is running for re-election in an election July 28.
Chile’s foreign ministry did not provide details about the suspect in custody, or explain why he was in Costa Rica. It said only that the fugitive had been detained as the result of an Interpol alert. Interpol declined to comment, referring questions to Costa Rica’s government, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chilean officials have said they are seeking several suspects, though without specifying a number. Police previously detained a 17-year-old Venezuelan who authorities said was staying in Chile illegally. Chile’s government also has said some suspects fled to Venezuela and it has promised to pursue their extradition.
Earlier this year, Chilean prosecutors implicated Venezuela’s largest criminal organization, the Aragua Train, in the kidnapping and killing of the 32-year-old Ojeda. But the gang never made a ransom demand, and officials say Ojeda was killed just hours after being kidnapped.
After 10 days of feverish searching, Chilean authorities found Ojeda’s body squeezed into a suitcase, buried a meter (three feet) beneath a building in a poor neighborhood of Santiago, sprinkled with white lime to hasten decomposition. Cement had been poured over the suitcase.