Even though it is rightly the Israeli-Palestinian issue that monopolises the off-screen debate at the Venice Film Festival, the Lido has in recent days also mobilised around another issue — geographically more distant but very much an Italian affair: the unjust detention of Alberto Trentini, a Venetian aid worker who has now been locked up for over 270 days in the maximum-security prison El Rodeo I, east of Caracas, in a turbulent Venezuela. There, Alberto Trentini "celebrated" his 46th birthday last 10 August, stripped of his freedom and without any formal charges.

Tg3 @Tg3web

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A new appeal for the release of Alberto Trentini, arrested nine months ago in Venezuela, comes from the Venice Film Festival. The aid worker's family is calling on the government to intervene with new and more vigorous initiatives.

♥ 1245💬 36 28 ago 2025 · Apri su X →

Who is Alberto Trentini, detained in Venezuela

And his mother Armanda Colusso, from Venice, has issued a precise appeal to the government: "Alberto has always looked after the most vulnerable in every country where he has worked. Today he is being unjustly detained and no one has been able to meet with him in all these months. We demand that the government turn its efforts into concrete action to bring him home: every additional day of unjust detention causes immense suffering — what will this young man think of his country, which has abandoned him for months?"

Alberto Trentini spent years working in challenging environments: Ecuador, Ethiopia, Paraguay, Nepal, Greece, Peru, Lebanon, Colombia. He arrived in Venezuela on 17 October 2024 as mission chief for the organisation Humanity & Inclusion, with the aim of providing assistance to people with disabilities in the country's most remote areas. On 15 November, while travelling towards Guasdualito, in south-western Venezuela, he was stopped at a checkpoint together with the NGO's driver. From that moment, his ordeal began. Venezuelan authorities arrested him without providing any official explanation. According to unconfirmed sources, he is accused of conspiracy and terrorism, but no formal charges have been filed. Trentini is being held in harsh conditions, as recounted by a Swiss former detainee recently released: "I was often tied to a chair with a hood over my head. They forced me to sign false confessions. Alberto is physically all right, but it is clear that his detention is unjust."

𝔹𝕒𝕓𝕒 @Only1wing

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Today marks 285 days that Alberto Trentini has been a prisoner, without a valid reason or charge.
@GiorgiaMeloni, now that she is back from holiday, will she think about bringing him home?
Because he is not on holiday...
#AlbertoTrentiniLibero

♥ 3💬 2 28 ago 2025 · Apri su X →

Diplomatic efforts so far fruitless

Alberto Trentini's mother has been able to speak with him only twice in nearly nine months. The Farnesina has activated diplomatic channels, and minister Antonio Tajani appointed Luigi Vignali as special envoy to follow the case, but a meeting scheduled with the Caracas government fell through at the last minute on 6 August, leaving the family and public opinion in a state of mounting frustration. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also personally contacted Alberto's mother, pledging the Italian government's commitment. The affair has also provoked reactions at the international level. Human rights organisations and European NGOs have expressed concern over the arbitrary detention of aid workers in Venezuela: the Trentini case has been compared to those of other foreign nationals held without trial, against a backdrop of growing repression. The participation of Paola Regeni, mother of the researcher killed in Egypt, in a sit-in for Alberto has also lent further symbolic weight to the mobilisation.