Italy – Wired, Oct. 04, 2025
Lawyer Alessandra Ballerini: “We must not let attention fade on Alberto’s case”
The lawyer representing aid worker Alberto Trentini, imprisoned in Venezuela, has reported contact with the Venezuelan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Regarding the Global Sumud Flotilla, she added: “For hours now, our consuls have been negotiating.”
“We must not let attention fade on Alberto’s case”—this is the message that lawyer Alessandra Ballerini and the Trentini family are urging Italian civil society to uphold. For nearly a year, the case of Alberto Trentini has kept everyone on edge. Trentini, an Italian aid worker, was arrested on November 15, 2024, in Venezuela while traveling from the capital Caracas to Guasdualito, accompanied by the NGO driver.
Alessandra Ballerini’s role and appearance at Wired Next Fest Trentino 2025
Lawyer Ballerini represents the Trentini family and has been following the case for months, denouncing its opacity. Known for her commitment to human rights and for assisting families and victims in highly sensitive cases, she coordinates with Venezuelan authorities, pressures the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and ensures public attention remains on a case that could otherwise slip into oblivion.
She has publicly disclosed the aid worker’s health conditions and highlighted the legal anomaly of his detention without charges in a political context like Nicolás Maduro’s regime, repeatedly accused of using arbitrary arrests as a diplomatic pressure tool. At Wired Next Fest 2025, Ballerini expressed optimism: “Confidential negotiations are ongoing, and I feel more hopeful than I have in these past ten months.” Small breakthroughs appear to be emerging. “Our ambassador was able to visit him and convey the words his mother wrote in a letter,” the lawyer said. In the following days, there was another development:
Italy-Venezuela contacts after four years
“After the ambassador’s visit to Alberto Trentini, there was a call between our Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Edmondo Cirielli and his Venezuelan counterpart [Andrea Corao]. There had been no official government contacts for four years, and when there are no relations, hostage diplomacy also breaks down.” Political commitment seems present: “Meloni has publicly pledged to bring him home.”
