France – La Dépêche, Jan. 15, 2026
The family of Camilo Castro, a 41-year-old yoga teacher from Toulouse who was held for nearly five months in a squalid prison in Venezuela—from June 26 to mid-November 2025—has joined forces with SOS Otages. The association sent a letter to the President of the Republic on Thursday, January 15, denouncing ‘the absence of a structured, coordinated, equitable, and appropriate support system capable of ensuring a genuine return to normal life for French victims of hostage-taking abroad.’
Since his return to France on November 16, Camilo Castro has been left to fend for himself. After his arrest by Venezuelan police on June 26, 2025, at a border post between Venezuela and Colombia where he was living, he was detained for nearly five months under ‘inhumane’ conditions in the Rodeo I prison in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. However, no psychological follow-up was put in place after the release of the 41-year-old yoga teacher, who admits to being ‘traumatized’ by his detention—an experience he previously recounted at a press conference at his home in Toulouse on January 9.
Lack of a support framework
This ‘absence of a support framework’ is the subject, this Thursday, June 15, of a letter addressed to Emmanuel Macron by the association SOS Otages. The letter is signed by 87 families of current and former hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, Jean-Paul Kauffmann, the family of Brice Fleutiaux, and Camilo Castro’s parents
