There has been no news of him for sixty days. Since November 15, the day he was arrested in Venezuela, the fate of Alberto Trentini, an Italian aid worker who was in the South American country to bring humanitarian aid to people with disabilities, has not been known. His family, who in recent weeks have tried to obtain information on the young man, are launching a dramatic appeal to the Italian government to try to bring him home safe and sound.
On the matter, some PD deputies have presented an urgent question to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, in which they ask for initiatives to guarantee Trentini "all procedural and detention rights and his immediate return to Italy".
The young man, of Venetian origins, had arrived in Venezuela on October 17 for a mission with the NGOs Humanity and Inclusion. "On November 15, while he was reaching Guasdalito from the capital Caracas - explain his family members assisted by the lawyer Alessandra Ballerini - he was stopped at a checkpoint, together with the driver of the NGO".
From the scant and informal information received from the family, it would seem that, a few days after the arrest, Alberto was transferred back to Caracas and, to date, is being held in a detention facility, without ever having been formally charged. Elements that bring us back, at least from a 'procedural' point of view, to what happened to the journalist Cecilia Sala, held in prison for 21 days in Teheran without a substantial charge.
The family members state that in these weeks "no official news has ever been communicated by any Venezuelan or Italian authority and in fact, for almost two months, we have known nothing about Alberto's fate, also considering that he suffers from health problems and does not have his medicines or any basic necessities with him". Since the day of his arrest, no one has been able to see him or speak to him. "Not even our Ambassador has been able to communicate or have news of him despite multiple attempts", the family members add.
A situation of total blackout that led the relatives of the Venetian aid worker to ask for the intervention of the Government in order to "put in place all possible and necessary diplomatic efforts, opening a constructive dialogue with the Venezuelan institutions, to bring Alberto home and guarantee his safety". For the relatives of the aid worker "it is unacceptable that Italian citizens who find themselves working or visiting other countries with the sole purpose of contributing to improving the living conditions of their inhabitants, find themselves deprived of freedoms and fundamental rights without being able to receive any effective protection from our country".
Trentini's family trusts that "the Prime Minister and the Ministers involved will work with the same commitment and dedication recently demonstrated to protect one of our fellow countrywomen, to bring Alberto back to Italy quickly and safely."
(Online Union)
