Who is Alberto Trentini, the cooperator freed in Caracas after 423 days in prison

There has been great apprehension in recent months among the family, who had repeatedly urged the government to intervene. Now, however, it is time for joy and thanks from the family: 'Alberto is finally free! This is the news we have been waiting for 423 days! We thank everyone who made it possible, even working in invisibility, for his release,' said the family, who then managed to greet their son during a video call. among others, the cooperator did not have the medicine he needed with him when he was arrested. For more than two months, the authorities did not provide any news or allow any contact with him. After 181 days of silence on the night of 16 May 2025 came the first phone call. The cooperator from Caracas prison spoke to his family, reassuring them that he was in good condition and receiving the medical care he needed. This contact, obtained after long diplomatic pressure, was welcomed with relief by his family and the government. A month earlier Giorgia Meloni had telephoned Trentini's mother, Armanda Colusso, to reassure her of the institutions' commitment. But on the occasion of the first anniversary of the detention of the cooperator, the woman, at a press conference in the Milan City Hall, had pointed the finger at the executive - which was actually working behind the scenes and in silence - accusing the government of not having spent itself on her son.

Esposto lo striscione al termine della conferenza “Libertà per Alberto subito” presso Palazzo Marino a Milano per chiedere il rilascio di Alberto Trentini, detenuto in Venezuela 15 novembre 2025. ANSA/MOURAD BALTI TOUATI

On 13 December 2024, the Italian government summoned the Venezuelan Chargé d'Affaires to Rome to ask for urgent and decisive action on the case. His case was also dealt with by the Inter-American Commission on Rights without receiving any response from the Venezuelan authorities. In January last year, the family had reported that no one had been able to see Alberto or contact him and there was no official information from the Venezuelan or Italian authorities about the young man's fate. In the past few days, the undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with responsibility for intelligence, Alfredo Mantovano, had declared that the government had worked 'from day one for the release' of the Venetian cooperator and 'was continuing to work', recalling that at this stage 'any more words can only damage the speedy resolution of the case'. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had said "we are working and we are trying the possible and the impossible".

The dossier had arrived on the desk of Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodrìguez in the last few days after the US blitz in Venezuela and the arrest of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. Only close diplomatic action on the part of Italy allowed the situation to be resolved. The Trentini family, through their lawyer Alessandra Ballerini, had circulated a note asking to respect the silence indicated by Palazzo Chigi and to avoid any instrumentalisation, recalling that any wrong word could compromise the negotiations for Alberto's release. The latest balance sheet of the NGO Foro Penal indicated that there were 863 political prisoners in Venezuela, 86 of whom were foreigners or had dual citizenship. Among them was the Italian Alberto Trentini.

The Vatican diplomacy had also intervened in the affair. Alberto's mother, Armanda, and her husband Ezio have lived for over a year amid anxiety and anguish over the fate of their son. In the past few days, the couple had also received a phone call from the President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Matteo Zuppi, who had expressed his closeness and solidarity with the cooperator's parents and reiterated the Church's commitment to trying to unblock the situation. The intervention of Vatican diplomacy represented a further step in the work of 'pressure' on the Venezuelan authorities.