On Monday night, the ECOH Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against 20 members of the “Pirates of Aragua,” a cell of the Aragua Train implicated in at least five kidnappings with homicide, including that of Venezuelan ex-military Ronald Ojeda, whose body was found on March 1, 2024, inside a suitcase buried under a cement slab at a camp in Santiago.
According to prosecutor Héctor Barros, who is leading the investigation, 200 witnesses and more than 100 forensic presentations have been brought forward, with the Public Ministry seeking sentences ranging from 5 years to life imprisonment for the accused in what is expected to be a lengthy trial that will begin soon.
Barros also detailed that there are still fugitive subjects and others with pending extradition orders, stating that “investigations have been separated for them and they will be tried when they are apprehended or when the extradition process concludes.” He added that in this separate case, a number of intrusive measures have been dispatched along with new arrest warrants against other participants involved in the crimes.
The prosecutor has emphasized on several occasions that Ojeda’s kidnapping and murder was a political crime orchestrated from Venezuela—a thesis supported by the Chilean government— and a report from the investigative journalism site Ciper released this Monday confirms this fully.
Adrián Gámez Finol (the “Turko”) was the leader of the “Pirates of Aragua.”
The Evidence
According to the article, the investigation into Ojeda’s murder includes two statements from associates of the “Turko”—the cell’s leader—and an audio recording from “Gordo Alex”, one of the heads of the Aragua Train in the country, which evidences the regime’s interference in the kidnapping and murder of the unfortunate ex-soldier.
The first testimony accessed by the cited medium comes from a trusted man of Adrián Gámez Finol (the “Turko”), who told detectives that the order to kill Ojeda came directly from the supreme leader of the Aragua Train, Héctor Guerrero Flores—alias “Niño Guerrero”—, passed along in Chile by Carlos “Bobby” Gómez.
“Niño Guerrero is called ‘el Cejas’, and he gave the instruction which came via Bobby, reaching the Turko, (…). Likewise, José Carlos (Valverde, one of those who executed Ojeda’s kidnapping) told me that Diosdado Cabello, a Venezuelan politician, instructed the kidnapping through Niño Guerrero, paying through him, considering that the military was not linked to any sort of crime such as drugs, arms, and other situations,” reads the declaration.
The same witness detailed that ten days before the kidnapping, he was contacted and included in a WhatsApp group.
“In the (chat) were Turko and ‘Chanel’, who are two leaders within the criminal structure operating in Chile; besides them, there were friends and acquaintances whom I know as ‘Mudo’, ‘José Carlos Valverde’, ‘Edgar’, ‘Yolvi Gonzalez’, ‘Monito’, ‘Morocho’ and ‘Gordo Ale’. In that group, the Turko wrote that ‘Bobby’ had trusted him to do a job which apparently was quite complicated and had to be done dressed as PDI, which is why various functions were assigned through that group.”
The “Gordo Alex” admits in an audio recording to having murdered a Venezuelan ex-soldier, although without naming names.
Confidential Witness No. 7
A second band member, identified as “Confidential Witness No. 7”, recognized the “Turko” as the gang’s leader and stated that a certain José Carlos Valverde—who remains a fugitive—told him that Ojeda’s murder was “ordered by the government of Venezuela, planned by the leaders of the Aragua Train, and executed by the members of that gang who were in Chile, with the money paid by the government, however, I do not know the figures or who was supposed to pay them.”
He also stated that once the murder was committed, they had to flee to Peru, where they would be paid for the “job” done.
Carlos Valverde, José Carlos’s father, declared this January that his son fled the country and is believed to be living in Venezuela, specifically in the Zulia state.
The third piece of evidence comes from an accused who lived in the shanty where Ojeda’s body was buried, located in a camp (“toma”) in the Santiago commune of Maipú, stating:
“By rumors I heard inside the camp, the Venezuelan ex-soldier was killed for betraying his country.”
Finally, “Confidential Witness No. 2” stated that among Niño Guerrero’s trusted men “and those who give the ‘green light’ or authorization to commit different types of crimes” are “Carlos Bobby” and “Gordo Alex,” who in an audio admits to having murdered a Venezuelan ex-military in Chile, although without naming names.
Infobae/ Mauricio Palazzo