In the hours following the United States military operation in Venezuela and the new phase of political crisis that opened in Caracas, the regime led by interim leader Delcy Rodríguez announced the release of a series of foreign political prisoners, and there is great anticipation especially for the return home of Alberto Trentini, prisoner in the capital’s prisons for over 400 days without an official charge. Among the people already released there are also other Italians, such as the entrepreneur Luigi Gasperin and the journalist and politician Biagio Pilieri. However, the Piedmontese accountant Mario Burlò remains awaited.
A sign of openness, that of Rodríguez, with the hope of international legitimacy for his government.
But who is Alberto Trentini, whose face has often appeared in national newspapers over the last year and a half? His detention in Venezuela began on November 15, 2024.
Trentini, a 46-year-old Venetian humanitarian worker, had been in the country for just under a month (since October 17, to be precise), and was collaborating with the NGO “Humanity & Inclusion”, which provides assistance to people with disabilities.
The man was stopped at a checkpoint while traveling towards Guasdualito to deliver aid to local communities, and on that occasion he was arrested by the Venezuelan army on charges of “terrorism and anti-Maduro conspiracy”. In reality, no official charge was ever made against him.
Trentini was locked up in the maximum security prison, “El Rodeo I” (about 30 kilometers east of Caracas). A prison where inmates only have 45 minutes of fresh air three times a week, and the few who have managed to get out speak of physical and psychological torture aimed at extorting false confessions. For many weeks nothing was known about his fate, then, after long weeks of diplomatic interlocutions between the Italian and Venezuelan governments, in May last year Trentini was able to call his family and reassure them, reassuring them that he was in good condition.
Now, after the United States attack on Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela in recent days, the news of the release of some international detainees has rekindled hope for the release of the humanitarian worker.
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