A Chilean court on Thursday sentenced a Venezuelan man extradited from Costa Rica to 20 years in prison for his role in the kidnapping and killing of former Venezuelan military officer and dissident Ronald Ojeda, a politically charged case that has raised concerns in Chile about organized crime.
Maickel David Villegas Rodríguez, 28, identified by prosecutors as a member of a local offshoot of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan crime group designated by the Trump administration as a foreign terrorist organization, was the first defendant in Ojeda’s killing to face a full trial. Sixteen other defendants are set to go on trial next week.
