|  ElCiudadano.cl |  Noticias

El Ciudadano

Original article: La paradoja de la inteligencia chilena: exdirector de la ANI que alertaba sobre el Tren de Aragua defiende a acusado ligado a la banda 

The same voice that warned less than two years ago about the establishment of the Tren de Aragua in our country now stands in court to defend a Chilean citizen who, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, was an active member of that criminal organization of Venezuelan origin. This is Gonzalo Yuseff, a lawyer and former prosecutor, who led the National Intelligence Agency (ANI) from 2010 to 2014 during Sebastián Piñera’s first term.

According to investigative media Reportea, Yuseff is serving as the private defender of Carlos Romero, who is charged with illicit association and human trafficking for sexual exploitation within a network linked to the Tren de Aragua.

This turn of events is particularly striking when reviewing the statements made by the former ANI director to the press in March 2024, following the kidnapping and murder of former Venezuelan military officer Ronald Ojeda, whose body was found buried under concrete in a Maipú occupation.

At that time, Yuseff analyzed the crime as a propaganda act related to Venezuelan elections and stated in an interview with Radio Biobío that Chile had «healthy institutions» and it was «very difficult, if not impossible, to corrupt a prosecutor or a Court of Appeals minister.» He even admitted that until two years ago he didn’t know what people were talking about when they mentioned the ‘Aragua cartel’.

His background in public safety has been marked by investigations like the ‘Bombs Case’ during his tenure at the ANI, and by advising former Defense Minister Alberto Espina during Piñera’s second government on national defense, political matters, and drafting reports in the criminal sphere. He also put forward his candidacy for the constitutional council for the Valparaíso Region as an independent in a slot for Evópoli.

Yuseff Defends the Sole Chilean Accused in Tren de Aragua Case

According to Reportea, in November last year, Yuseff took on the defense of Carlos Romero, 40, who has been detained since July 2022 at C.D.P. Santiago Uno. The investigation led by the High Complexity Northern Prosecutor’s Office indicates that the gang—comprised of seven Venezuelans, three Colombians, one Cuban, and Romero—recruited young women, some minors, in their countries of origin and illegally brought them into Chile for sexual exploitation in apartments in central Santiago, near Plaza de Armas. The victims, Venezuelans aged between 17 and 22, had to pay «fines» of up to 5 million pesos for their transport and weekly sums for use of the space. If they failed to pay, they were threatened with death to themselves and their families.

According to the prosecutor’s files, Carlos Romero’s role was to receive money transfers in his RUT account—totaling nearly one million pesos between 2021 and 2023—from clients of sexual services and from the payments demanded from the victims. Additionally, he facilitated the illegal entry of women and covered for the organization. Two PDI officials reportedly leaked confidential information to the gang to locate rescued victims.

When his previous attorney resigned, arguing that Romero «lacked sufficient resources to fund a private defense,» Yuseff took over the representation. In an interview with Reportea, the former ANI director asserted that he is convinced of his client’s innocence.

«Someone tells me that there is a guy unjustly imprisoned—he recounted. I ask him to send me the details (…) and it seems quite plausible to me that there were no elements linking him.» He maintained that Romero only received deposits because his Venezuelan partner and other irregular migrants did not have bank accounts, and that the accused earned a stable income of $2.8 million monthly from his transport work. However, courts have continued to uphold pretrial detention, with the Santiago Court of Appeals confirming the measure.

Yuseff: ‘A Sense of Justice Has Particularly Linked Me to This Case’

Asked by Reportea how he reconciles his past in intelligence with defending a suspected member of the Tren de Aragua, Yuseff replied: ‘A sense of justice has particularly linked me to this case, because there is a person who has been unjustly deprived of liberty for three years.’

«I see no problem, because the motivation behind all this is to establish the rule of law and not the opposite,» he pointed out, while declining to reveal who funds the defense, citing professional secrecy.

The same man who led the ANI and alerted about the rise of organized crime in the country is confident that by the end of the ongoing trial, his client will be acquitted.

La entrada The Paradox of Chilean Intelligence: Former ANI Director Defends Suspect Linked to Tren de Aragua Gang se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.