Santiago's 2nd Oral Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced Maickel David Villegas Rodríguez to 20 years in prison without parole as a perpetrator of the kidnapping and murder of Venezuelan dissident and former military officer Ronald Ojeda in February 2024.
According to La Tercera, Villegas is linked to Los Piratas, a faction of Tren de Aragua, and is the first defendant to go to trial in the case. The sentence falls within the maximum tier of long-term imprisonment, according to BioBioChile.
Villegas was extradited from Costa Rica in 2024. Prosecutor Alex Cortez, head of High-Complexity Criminal Analysis at the Southern Metropolitan Regional Prosecutor's Office, explained that the agreement with that country set limits on the sentence: "The maximum sentence that could be requested under this arrangement was 20 years," which was what the Public Prosecutor's Office sought.
According to the investigation cited by La Tercera, Villegas worked as a delivery driver. During the planning, he watched the condominium on El Molino Street in Independencia from a Chevrolet Sail he used to deliver products for a company providing services to Mercado Libre.
In the early hours of February 21, 2024, four men posing as detectives from the Investigative Police (PDI) took Ojeda from his apartment. Villegas waited in his car, double-parked with its lights off, alongside Ángel Castellano. The two recorded a video that they later deleted; prosecutors suspect it was sent to report that the kidnapping had taken place.
The Nissan used to take Ojeda broke down on the Costanera Norte highway in Renca. Villegas drove three of the fake police officers toward San Bernardo, while the victim was put into another vehicle. Hours later, a toll gantry recorded him, and investigators located him at a gas station, where he paid with his card and provided his tax identification number. Days later, he fled the country.
Ojeda's body was found on March 1, 2024, in a squatter settlement in Maipú. He was 32 and had a six-year-old son. He had arrived in Chile in 2018 and was granted refugee status in November 2023.
A political motive was not established at trial. La Tercera reports that a protected witness testified that Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello contacted the leader of Tren de Aragua, known as Niño Guerrero, to arrange the crime. Cortez clarified that this line of investigation remains open and is not part of the current trials.
Castellano, who was 17 at the time of the events, was sentenced on October 1, 2024, in an abbreviated proceeding (a simplified trial in which the defendant accepts the facts) to five years in custody.
The Ojeda family's lawyer, Alejandra Valdivieso, said they were "quite satisfied." Villegas's defense lawyer, María José Opazo, announced an appeal seeking to annul the trial or the sentence. Until the ruling becomes final, Villegas will remain in the facility where he was held in pretrial detention.
The trial of the remaining defendants will begin on October 20. La Tercera reports that there are 18 defendants, also facing charges for crimes committed by Los Piratas, while prosecutor Cortez, according to BioBioChile, referred to 16 defendants.
