Argentina – Clarin, Jan. 29, 2026
Camilo Castro, a French citizen who was imprisoned in Venezuela and released in November, provided details about the situation of Nahuel Gallo. He said that the Argentine gendarme, who has been detained in Caracas since December 2024, “is alone in a cell” and revealed that he is subjected to sham judicial proceedings in the middle of the night.
“As foreigners, only Nahuel, one Frenchman, and the Colombians remain,” Castro detailed. He said that pressure from the regime on the gendarme and other foreign detainees increased after January 3, the day the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“What I know is that recently Agustín (Nahuel), even with all the strength he has, has had more difficult moments psychologically. Just imagine being locked in a cell two meters by three,” Castro told DNews from France; he was also kidnapped by Venezuelan authorities.
He also said that Gallo was “the victim of sham judicial proceedings,” claiming they occur “between one and three in the morning, with fake judges disguised in the prison hallways, with people wearing black caps.”
Gallo and Castro shared a cell in El Rodeo 1 prison in the Venezuelan capital for over four months in 2025. Since leaving Latin America, Castro has focused on researching the situation of political prisoners under the Chavista regime and provided some details about how the Argentine spends his days.
Castro was detained on June 26, 2025, after traveling to a border crossing between Colombia and Venezuela for a migration procedure. He was released on November 16 following diplomatic efforts by the French government.
“Now Agustín Gallo is alone in the cell — he no longer has his companion,” the Frenchman said, and in that context stated that the videos Venezuela released last year about the gendarme were actually staged. He mentioned, for example, that “he never managed to walk freely in a yard.”
“To Nahuel they forced him to film many videos and photos. He was the only one who has not had a call with his partner and with his family, he has been totally isolated, he has had no consular visit, he has been totally kidnapped,” he added.
In the same vein, he stressed the lack of communication to which Gallo is subjected. “It’s one of the greatest tortures we experienced there,” he said, adding that “there was an obsession with Nahuel.”
