The heartbreaking story of the former Venezuelan officer, kidnapped and murdered in Chile, in a diary about the torture he suffered in Caracas

Former Venezuelan lieutenant Ronald Ojeda, kidnapped and murdered in Chile last Friday, left his testimony reflected in an unpublished 185-page diary where he reveals the terrible tortures to which he was subjected by the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) during his imprisonment as a political prisoner in Caracas.

Ojeda, 32, was kidnapped on February 21 in his underwear from his home in Santiago, Chile. by a commando dressed in black with a balaclava. Nine days later his mutilated body was found by Chilean police in a suitcase buried in a 1.4 meter deep concrete pit in Maipú, south of the city.

The family asks the Chilean authorities to clarify the crime. In Venezuela there is confusion and doubts about the motive for the murder of the young soldier that presidential candidate María Corina Machado also expressed, calling it a “brutal crime” by the retired lieutenant, who had previously been a “political prisoner” in Venezuela. “His kidnapping and murder demonstrate that harassment transcends borders,” she added.

Javier Ojeda, brother of former retired lieutenant Ronald Ojeda Moreno, revealed that the ex-soldier murdered in Chile left some writings in which he spoke of the torture he suffered when he was detained by the General Directorate of Military Counter-Espionage (DGCIM).

The writing contains 185 pages to which the Chilean newspaper had access Third. Javier explained that Ronald, after leaving Venezuela by escaping from prison, began writing about his experiences they leave a memory of persecution and repression.

“He couldn’t publish it, but he knew the regime was hunting him. That’s why he gave it to me,” Ronald Ojeda’s brother said in statements released to the Chilean newspaper.

Lieutenant Ojeda He was kidnapped by the DGCIM on March 25, 2017 when he was on guard duty at his command post in Apure, southwest of Venezuela and on the border with Colombia.

“This is an area of ​​vital importance for rebel and radical groups, led by the FARC and the ELN, linked to drug trafficking, kidnappings, extortion and smuggling,” said the ex-soldier murdered in Chile .

That would be the day everything changed. They summoned him to a meeting in Caracas and was preparing for the trip, for which he went to the office of his superior, “Brigadier General Ovidio Delgado Ramírez”.

The soldier congratulated Ojeda on his work and called it exemplary. He asked him several questions. Then, She gave him an envelope with money.

“I absolutely didn’t know that at that level ‘prizes’ of this kind were awarded so lightly and informally. «Here, Ojeda, so you can share with your family and for the future child. You did a good job,’” the former lieutenant wrote.

Ojeda Moreno said they put him on a plane and questioned him about the money he had with him, the same money they had given him a few minutes earlier.

That’s where the torture began. of which he was victimized by the DGCIM, he reported.

Ronald was first kicked in the head. The officers opened the door and threatened to throw him out. They also sprayed pepper spray in his face and suffocated him with a rope tied around his neck, the pages add.

The tortures

“What do you know?; Tell us everything and everything will end, if you help us, we can help you”, they said. “I don’t know anything,” Ojeda responded.

“Now with the electric shocks to see if they received any responses. Endless sessions in which they tied threads to the ends of my ears, to my little fingers, to my ankles. “They sprayed water on the black hood to prevent oxygen from entering,” the letter adds.

The plane landed in the city of Caracas, but Ronald was sure that the landing was just the beginning of something bumpier.

Indoctrination in the barracks

He joined the army at the age of 17 and, as he explains, began a strong period “indoctrination”explaining that the idea was that at the end of the process he would be a different person than the one who entered.

“The end product of four years of militant training is a totally submissive being.”Without the ideal skills for future positions, meritocracy is totally excluded in the exercise of functions; it is enough to flatter the system and the leader to win a position, a preferred position or future promotions. The military is not faithful to the Constitution, principles, codes or legacy. He will only obey the power of the party,” he added.

“Just with the assignment there was already a payment and constant remuneration with the bosses. (…) If (the activity) is profitable, one leaves aside any military treatment and takes something lighter as companions. If there is no profit: the treatment is purely military,” he said.

He stated this in his writing They threw the food on the floor without plates and they gave him only arepa and lentils. When he finished eating, they took him out for further torture and interrogation, led by the middle managers of the DGCIM, he reports.

The former soldier said he heard in complete darkness how other defendants had also been tortured in nearby cells. He described the sessions:

“Electric shocks become routine when they make you talk. They begin with light sessions, which will progressively increase depending on the degree of information provided. (…) Mechanical asphyxiation and beatings with metal bars wrapped in sponges serve to demonstrate that the law does not exist there. The dark rooms and isolated cells are meant to dominate your mind, drive you into internal conflict to take the blame, to emphasize that you are the perpetrator; Tell the system that you accept what is imposed as a scourge for the sin committed.”

It also details how it hung on the wall for hoursor that they immersed his head in a bucket of water “so that he could speak and give some testimony that they wanted him to repeat.”

This was the case for 13 days. Due to the lack of cleanliness she suffered from itching and had scabies. His wife gave birth in those days. Despite this she looked for him but they only answered one thing:

“He was arrested for involvement in corrupt activities, when he was arrested a briefcase full of money was seized.”

Ronald managed to escape and take refuge in Chile where he was kidnapped a second time and finally murdered.