Chile Asks Pam Bondi to Interrogate Nicolás Maduro About Killing of Venezuelan Dissident
Chile’s national prosecutor, Ángel Valencia, on Monday asked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to question Nicolás Maduro over the assassination of exiled Venezuelan dissident Ronald Ojeda.
Valencia traveled to Washington and had a working meeting with Bondi, aimed at strengthening security cooperation between Chile and the United States as well as cooperation in the fight against organized crime. The Chilean Public Prosecutor’s Office clarified that the first topic discussed by Valencia and Bondi was the prosecution of money laundering and the protection of the financial systems of the two countries.
The second topic, Valencia said, is to continue strengthening Chile’s cooperation with the United States regarding the prosecution of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) and the “Aragua Pirates,” a faction of the TdA operating in Chile, as well as the prosecution of crimes committed by “associated gangs in our country, such as the assassination of Lt. Ronald Ojeda.”
Ronald Ojeda, 32 at the time of his death, was a dissident Venezuelan lieutenant who fled to Chile in the face of persecution by the Venezuelan socialist regime, and became a vocal critic of the now-deposed socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and other regime figures.
On February 21, 2024, a group of men posing as Chilean immigration agents kidnapped Ojeda from his residence in Santiago, dragging him out of his apartment barefoot and wearing only his underwear. A few days later, on March 1, his body was found in a suitcase buried under a cement structure in the Santiago metropolitan area.
The Chilean Public Prosecutor’s Office immediately opened an investigation into the assassination of the exiled Venezuelan dissident and determined that Tren de Aragua was involved in the crime. Further investigation revealed that one of the suspects in the plot to kidnap and kill Ojeda was an employee in the governor’s office of the Venezuelan state of Aragua. The Venezuelan socialist regime has denied any involvement in the death of Ronald Ojeda. Former left-wing Chilean President Gabriel Boric, whose term ended last week, linked Ojeda’s kidnapping and murder to Nicolas Maduro’s regime during a speech in October 2025.
“Without going beyond Chile, we have the case of the assassination of a former Venezuelan soldier, one of the suspects being the very regime of the dictator Nicolas Maduro,” Boric then declared, “who is stealing the elections in his country.”
As of press time, Nicolás Maduro – long wanted by US authorities on multiple narcoterrorism charges – remains detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn alongside his wife Cilia Flores after President Donald Trump authorized a law enforcement operation in Caracas on January 3 that resulted in the couple’s arrest.
Prosecutor Valencia noted that Attorney General Bondi and his team expressed the Justice Department’s willingness to continue cooperating in the investigation into Ojeda’s murder, not only by “taking into account Nicolás Maduro’s request for testimony, but also by providing all the information, details and evidence that they gather during their ongoing investigations that could be useful in solving this horrible crime.”
“It’s a very favorable and very positive response. We are very happy about it,” Valencia said. He also explained that, since Maduro falls within U.S. jurisdiction, the appropriate course of action under Chilean law is to seek cooperation from U.S. authorities in processing Chile’s request to question Maduro in accordance with U.S. law and the conditions that govern cooperation between the United States and Chile.
“The team of prosecutors, led by regional prosecutor Héctor Barros, and the police have already prepared a questionnaire to send to the American authorities,” Valencia said, “and Attorney General Bondi has expressed his full willingness to contribute to this interrogation, if it proves appropriate and necessary, although it depends on Maduro’s willingness to cooperate.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer who documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
