Lucrezia Ciotti After six long months of silence and apprehension, the family of Alberto Trentini has finally been able to hear his voice. The Italian aid worker, detained in Venezuela in circumstances that are still unclear, has managed to get in touch with the Parents with a phone call full of emotion. His words, though brief, brought a ray of hope to those in Italy who have been waiting for certain news about his fate for a long time.
The imprisonment of Alberto Trentini and the intervention of the president Giorgia Meloni
At the beginning of April, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni telephoned the mother by Alberto Trentini, Armanda Colussi, reassuring her of the government's commitment for the repatriation of his son, detained in Caracas since November 15.
Trentini had arrived in Venezuela on October 17 to coordinate the NGO's projects Humanity & Inclusion, active in supporting people with disabilities. A few days later, he was arrested at a checkpoint while on his way to Guasdalito. Since then, the family has lost all contact, until the recent phone call. According to sources released a few weeks ago, he is in El Rodeo I prison, in the state of Miranda, in solitary confinement, at least until mid-March.
After six months of captivity in Venezuela, Alberto Trentini calls his parents: his words
Alberto Trentino is alive and he confirmed it firsthand on the night between Thursday 15 and Friday 16 May, when an unexpected phone call came to his parents' house. For the first time since the beginning of his detention in Venezuela, the family received a direct and reassuring signal about his conditions.
As reported by the Republic, citing sources close to Palazzo Chigi, Trentini reassured his family by saying that be able to eat regularly and to have access to necessary care, as he suffers from hypertension. During the conversation he also expressed a strong desire to return to Italy soon. “I hope to return soon”, he would have said.
This contact would have been made possible thanks to a diplomatic action conducted by the Italian government, in close collaboration with the family, the lawyer Alessandra Ballerini and the Venezuelan authorities led by Nicolás Maduro.