ROME (ITALPRESS) – Venezuela “is in a very delicate phase,” which can be described as “a tense calm.” This was stated by Italian Ambassador to Caracas, Giovanni Umberto De Vito, in an interview for Diplomacy Magazine, the geopolitical column of the Italpress agency hosted by Claudio Brachino.
“The country is returning to normality; there are no episodes of violence or tension. Schools are not yet open, and this is an indicator that the situation is not completely stabilized, but security and public order are being monitored, and I would say that the most important thing is to show respect and attention to this first phase, and offer opportunities for collaboration,” the ambassador observed.
“This country needs hope, it needs to look to the future with a little more confidence, and above all, it needs more resources to circulate in the economic system, so that the population perceives that a positive change is beginning,” he specified.
“I won’t go so far as to speak of a transition, because, as has been said much more authoritatively than I have, there are phases; therefore, in this first phase (we need) stability and security, then economic development and improved living conditions, finally we can talk about a process of reconciliation and political transition,” the ambassador continued.
Regarding the freed Italian hostages, De Vito called it a great achievement for Italy. “I met with interim President Rodriguez on Monday, the day after the release of our compatriots (Alberto Trentini and Mario Burlò). I conveyed Prime Minister Meloni’s message, which was both a message of appreciation for their gesture and a message of openness, a willingness to build a new relationship, to turn the page, and to collaborate,” the diplomat added.
“The interim president responded positively,” De Vito added. Venezuela has an Italian community of over 160,000, the ambassador noted. “It is the third largest community in Latin America after Argentina and Brazil. Many of them have been here since birth or even since their parents and grandparents. I would say that they have suffered what this country has been through in recent years, but they have shown a strong capacity for resilience.
Among them are many entrepreneurs, many people professionally engaged at the most diverse levels of the country’s social life. It is a community that has in some way shaped the identity of Venezuela,” said the head of the diplomatic mission in Caracas.
“Here we eat Italian pasta, at Christmas we eat panettone, and so it’s a community that wants to look at opportunities to improve their lives. And this can only benefit our country, because they will then travel as tourists to Italy, they will receive visits from Italy, and if there is a gradual improvement in the situation, this can only strengthen relations. Unfortunately, there are still Italians in prison,” De Vito observed.
After the release of Trentini and Burlò, preceded by that of Biagio Pilieri and followed by that of Luigi Gasperin, about forty Italians remain in prison. “That number also includes those detained for ordinary reasons, so they cannot all be defined as people deprived of their liberty for reasons, let’s say, related to the political context. The commitment of Italian institutions continues: we are constantly taking action on individual cases. We are in contact with the families, we are in contact with their lawyers, and we are in contact with the authorities. Our goal is to free all Italians deprived of their liberty here for reasons related to the political context,” concluded Ambassador De Vito.
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(ITALPRESS).
