Almost a week after the kidnapping of Ronald Ojeda Moreno, a retired Venezuelan military officer who was in Santiago as a political refugee, the deputies of the UDI bench, Felipe Donoso and Henry Leal, will request that a secret session of the Chamber be held so that the Government of President Gabriel Boric of explanations.
Opposition deputies accuse that there has been “opacity” on the part of the Executive to clarify a situation that – they affirm – “would affect national security.”
The UDI legislators consider that both the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, and the Undersecretary Manuel Monsalve have made “ambiguous” statements, which in their opinion “have helped create more confusion than certainty in this matter.”
Summoning the Chilean ambassador in Venezuela, deputies Donoso and Leal demand clarity about what for them is an “intelligence operation of the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.”
“The minimum we hope is for Ambassador Jaime Gazmuri to be called to report on the situation, but we only have ambiguities and imprecise information,” said the UDI deputies, for whom a secret session by the Chamber of Deputies is essential. Deputies.
Their objective: “To tell us what they know, what is being investigated and the possible diplomatic actions that the Government will take, in the event of illegal intervention by the dictator Maduro in the kidnapping of this Venezuelan refugee.”
In parallel, the president of the UDI, Senator Javier Macaya, will request a meeting with the Ministers of the Interior and Defense, Carolina Tohá and Maya Fernández, regarding the kidnapping. The union helmsman maintained that “if the hypothesis that it is an incursion by Venezuela directly into Chile is confirmed, we are in the presence of a missing person in democracy, in our country, by a foreign country. “It is absolutely serious.” He added that together with the president of Democrats, Ximena Rincón, and the helmsman of Renovación Nacional, Rodrigo Galilea, they will request the meeting to “clarify for us what information they have.”
Government complains and asks for 24/7 equipment
The investigation into the kidnapping of Ronald Ojeda is being carried out by the Public Ministry. With police investigations underway, it has been declared secret. From the Government, the spokesperson minister Camila Vallejo emphasized the need for the investigation to advance without political interference.
“Many hypotheses have been raised, particularly one of the hypotheses by a sector of the opposition, and they will have to take charge of that hypothesis. But as a Government, it is not up to us to lean towards one or rule out one,” the Secretary of State emphasized.
“We call for not using this investigation politically for partisan purposes,” added the La Moneda spokesperson.
For his part, the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, came out to respond to the newspaper The reason from Venezuela, from where they assured that the kidnapping of Lieutenant (r) Ojeda was carried out within the framework of a “police agreement” signed between the Chilean and Venezuelan administrations.
The UDI deputies also indicated that it is necessary “to know the details of the agreement signed between the Government of Chile and the Venezuelan dictatorship, to confirm or rule out that this instrument has allowed the kidnapping of the former military man by the secret police of that country.” .
Monsalve assured that the publication of the dissident Venezuelan media of Nicolás Maduro is a “total lie” and asked the political actors for responsibility “because in practice what they are questioning is the trust in our institutions that are in charge of the fight in against organized crime.”
Given the priority that the Government has given to this case, a complaint has been filed for kidnapping and illegal possession of weapons, which has been admitted for processing. In said complaint, it is argued that the events constitute an attack against the tranquility and security of the population.
The opposition has more questions
The statements of Undersecretary Monsalve were not enough to clarify the doubts of the Republican Party, the PDG and Evópoli, from where they also called on the Government to have greater transparency and deliver the details of the agreement mentioned by the newspaper The reason.
“What is missing here is transparency and that is the type of explanations we expect, not a defense of an agreement signed last month,” commented the parliamentarian of the Republican Party, Stephan Schubert.
Along the same lines, her colleague on the bench, Representative Catalina Del Real, maintained that “if it is confirmed that Venezuela violated security and our national sovereignty, all necessary actions must be taken. You cannot negotiate with a country like this.”
From the PDG, Congresswoman Karen Medina was emphatic when she said that “I hope that with the same force that the undersecretary today claims to have nothing to do with it or that the words published in that medium are lies, I can maintain them during the future journey.” and don’t have to go out and deny it.”
Meanwhile, from the Evópoli bench, deputy Jorge Guzmán stated that “the Government believes that by filing a complaint everything is solved, but no, here it is about caring for and defending our sovereignty that would eventually be violated. We need clarity, transparency and consequence for those responsible.”
