Seventy-year-old entrepreneur Luigi Gasperin is reportedly among the foreign prisoners released in Venezuela in an attempt to secure legitimacy and send a signal of openness to the United States and the rest of the world.

Hope is rekindled for the family of Alberto Trentini, the Italian aid worker detained for over 400 days . Armanda and Ezio Trentini , who are following the developments following the US raid from their home on the Venice Lido, say they are experiencing "days of anguish and hope."

In addition to Trentini, 27 other Italians (some with dual citizenship) are believed to be implicated for reasons related to politics, their professional activities, or the expression of opinions deemed inconvenient to the regime. Among them are Biagio Pilieri and Mario Burlò. Pilieri, an Italian-Venezuelan journalist and politician, was arrested on August 28, 2024, for his support of the opposition. Burlò, a Turin-based entrepreneur, has been in prison for over a year. According to his family , he is being held without clear motives. Burlò reportedly left for Venezuela in 2024 to explore new business opportunities, but never returned.

In Rome, the spotlight has been particularly on Trentini, the Venetian aid worker arrested on November 15, 2024, in the state of Apure, without formal charges, while working for the NGO Humanity and Inclusion. He was then held in the capital's El Rodeo maximum-security prison. During these more than 400 days of detention, Italian authorities at all levels—government, diplomacy, and intelligence— worked covertly to bring him home, under extremely difficult conditions, dealing with a regime Rome does not recognize as legitimate and that exploits so-called hostage diplomacy to obtain compensation.

In this context, there has been frequent dialogue with the US government: several phone calls between Minister Antonio Tajani and his colleague Marco Rubio, with Washington guaranteeing its full commitment. A possible breakthrough on this issue began to be discussed after Maduro's departure. Tajani himself estimated that the new president, Delcy Rodriguez, could be "more flexible than in the past" and also make "a positive gesture towards police detainees."

And indeed, some signs have begun to arrive from Caracas: the opposition's call (led by Corina Machado) for a general amnesty for all political prisoners has been shared by some elements of the regime. According to the latest report by the NGO Foro Penal, there are 863 political prisoners in Venezuela, 86 of whom are foreign citizens or hold dual citizenship.

(Unioneonline)

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