Italy – La Stampa, Nov. 15, 2025
Armanda Colusso at a press conference in Milan speaking about her son, an aid worker detained in Venezuela: “Until August, there was no contact at all from the government.”
She reads to avoid breaking down, but in the end tears fall down her face. “I am here to express my indignation, because for Alberto they did not do what was necessary and what should have been done to secure his release. I have been too patient and polite, but now my patience has run out.” It has been more than a year since Armanda Colusso last saw her son, Alberto Trentini. The international aid worker has been detained for 365 days in a Venezuelan prison.
Only after six months did she learn that her son was still alive, but imprisoned without charges. Since then, she has only heard his voice in three brief calls granted by the authorities in Caracas. Speaking from a room at Palazzo Marino, Milan’s City Hall, Ms. Colusso asks that silence not fall over her son’s case and urges the Italian government to do more to bring home the 46-year-old from Veneto, who was arrested on November 15, 2024, during a humanitarian mission with the NGO Humanity & Inclusion, which supports people with disabilities. “I am not seeking your sympathy, but I want to tell you how difficult these 12 months have been for me and my family, especially since my husband is unwell,” she said. “We have lived through senseless days and nights, constantly thinking of Alberto, imagining how he is, what he thinks, what he hopes for, what he fears. I want to remind everyone that a year of my son’s life has been taken from him — a year in which he could not enjoy the affection of his family and friends, not to mention what he could have done and given to others.”
With Colusso is lawyer Alessandra Ballerini, who assists the family from a legal standpoint: “We cannot speak to you about the negotiations. They are complex and not conducted on a single track. I can only say that some so-called negotiators have appeared, claiming to have powers they ultimately did not possess. Because of this — and because of the international context — Alberto has not yet returned.”
Another glimmer of hope for Alberto’s family emerged in mid-October during the Vatican canonization of the first Venezuelan saints, José Gregorio Hernández and María Carmen Rendiles. “What reassured me,” his mother said, “was our President Mattarella’s handshake on October 19 with the Venezuelan Minister of Education, and the calm, constructive atmosphere that marked the celebrations for the canonization of the two Venezuelan saints in Rome. I hoped that occasion would be the turning point for Alberto’s release.”
