Italy – Il Fatto Quotidiano, Jan. 04, 2026
The diplomatic chess match for the humanitarian worker detained at El Rodeo and for other Italian nationals imprisoned in Venezuela. The family awaits concrete signals after more than a year of silence and uncertainty.
“We have Italians detained in Venezuela, starting with Trentini, but there are about a dozen others as well.” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, immediately after the U.S. operation that brought an end to Maduro’s regime, publicly drew attention to the condition of citizens imprisoned in the South American country. Among them is Alberto Trentini, a humanitarian worker from Venice, who has been held for over a year in the El Rodeo I prison in Caracas, without any formal charges being brought against him. The families of the detained Italians oscillate between hope and apprehension, in a context that remains uncertain given the many unknowns surrounding Venezuela’s future and the possible repercussions of the U.S. intervention.
Among the Italians incarcerated in the country is also Biagio Pilieri, a 59-year-old Italian-Venezuelan, leader of the political movement Convergencia, detained at the Helicoide without any possibility of communicating with the outside world. No one has been able to see him since the day of his arrest on August 28, 2024, when the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin) took him away as he was returning from a peaceful demonstration.
On the institutional front, signs of attention have not been lacking in recent weeks. Shortly before Christmas, Alberto’s mother received a phone call from President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, who wished to express closeness and solidarity, reaffirming that Italy has not abandoned the humanitarian worker. The gesture came after months of bitterness and following increasingly explicit calls from the family for more decisive government action. In August 2025, the family also appealed to Pope Francis, asking for mediation.
During his detention, Alberto Trentini briefly contacted his family, reassuring them about his health. He also received a visit from the Italian ambassador, Giovanni Umberto De Vito. Trentini had arrived in Venezuela on October 17, 2024, for a humanitarian mission with the NGOs Humanity and Inclusion. On November 15, while traveling from Caracas to Guasdalito, he was stopped at a checkpoint and arrested together with the mission’s driver, without being given any explanation. Since then, he has been held in El Rodeo prison, a few kilometers from the capital.
