I receive 40 phone calls a day from compatriots asking to be hidden in the consulate
Rome 9 Aug. (Adnkronos)
“Stop criticizing Maduro on social media and they’ll come and pick you up at home: they’ll round up everyone, even the elderly.” Thus Andrea Di Giuseppe, Fratelli d’Italia deputy elected abroad, tells Adnkronos the price of the repression that the Italian community in Venezuela is paying, around one and a half million people at risk. “I receive 30-40 phone calls a day: the last one was from a 79-year-old gentleman who borrowed a cell phone because he didn’t even have the money to call me: his only fault? He had written a post in favor of the opposition at the time of the elections”, reports Di Giuseppe.
The arrest of the Venezuelan opposition MP, Williams Davila, who ended up in handcuffs a few hours after the interview given to Adnkronos, “caused more sensation because he is a representative of the people, but every day there are hundreds and hundreds of cases: I they contact elderly people, sometimes indigent people, ordinary people in short”, explains the Italian deputy.
It is a repression, he adds, which recalls “the worst times of Tito, but there is an aggravating factor: ideology has absolutely nothing to do with it here, the Venezuelan regime is an oligarchy of damned drug traffickers, made up of generals and members of the government, which aims to maintain the status quo to the detriment of poor people.” The situation, he explains, “risks getting worse if this time we don’t take a position of firm condemnation of this regime”, he concludes.
Venezuela, Di Giuseppe (Fdi), ‘M5S friends of Maduro, more ignorant than communists’
‘they haven’t said half a word about the repression our community is suffering’
Rome 9 Aug. (Adnkronos)
“The Five Star Movement continues to be Maduro’s friends, because they are enormously ignorant: it is already serious to support a communist regime, let alone drug traffickers.” This is how Andrea Di Giuseppe, Fratelli d’Italia deputy elected abroad, comments to Adnkronos on the position of the Five Star Movement on the Maduro government: “The ideological part has little to do with it, in Venezuela a group of criminals governs who protects their financial interests and staunchly defends the status quo with repression.”
“The 5 Star movement and Conte today didn’t say half a word about the repression that our community is undergoing – around one and a half million people – because they know nothing: I don’t even want to say that they are pro-communist (and they are) but the most the great thing is that they are ignorant: they don’t even know what Venezuela is.”
The situation in the country, explains the deputy, has even worsened since Chavez’s time: “At least he had an ideology. Maduro simply heads a group of drug traffickers,” he concludes.
Di Giuseppe (FdI), ‘a hundred Italian-Venezuelans arrested’
ROMA
(ANSA) – ROMA, 09 AGO – “These people were arrested on charges of inciting hatred and thus risk up to twenty years in prison. It is a difficult moment and many of our compatriots are asking to leave the country. We must intervene promptly to protect the Italian community in Venezuela. There are one and a half million Italian-Venezuelans here and we cannot leave them alone”, explained Di Giuseppe. Among the compatriots arrested after Maduro’s election there is also Rita Capriti, a 50-year-old originally from Messina arrested on charges of inciting hatred, according to what was written on social media by the opposition party Primero Justicia, of which the woman is vice president in the state of Aragua. (ANSA).
Venezuela, il deputato Di Giuseppe: “Italiani a rischio, basta post su social e scatta arresto” https://www.adnkronos.com/internazionale/esteri/venezuela-il-deputato-di-giuseppe-italiani-a-rischio-basta-post-su-social-e-scatta-arresto_Leahy9FyqrYJlJTVz2YRI
5Stelle “amichetti di Maduro”, Di Giuseppe (FdI) a valanga: più ignoranti che comunisti https://www.iltempo.it/politica/2024/08/09/news/venezuela-5stelle-maduro-di-giuseppe-fdi-grillini-piu-ignoranti-che-comunisti-40073774/
Venezuela, MP Di Giuseppe: “Italians at risk, no more posts on social media and arrest” https://www.padovanews.it/2024/08/09/venezuela-il-deputato-di-giuseppe-italiani-a-rischio-basta-post-su-social-e-scatta-arresto
Venezuela, il deputato Di Giuseppe: “Italiani a rischio, basta post su social e scatta arresto” https://www.sbircialanotizia.it/2024/08/09/venezuela-il-deputato-di-giuseppe-italiani-a-rischio-basta-post-su-social-e-scatta-arresto/
“Maduro’s friends”, FdI landslide on Conte and his companions: more ignorant than communists https://tristemondo.it/amichetti-di-maduro-fdi-a-valanga-su-conte-e-compagni-piu-ignoranti-che-comunisti
Italy raises its voice and says that Maduro’s government “frees detained disidents” https://www.ansalatina.com/americalatina/noticia/latinoamerica/2024/08/09/tajani-deben-liberar-a-disidentes-detenidos_24c9028d-3451-49b9-9335-4c9b59cc31d2.html
Repression alert in Venezuela, deputy arrested after interview with Adnkronos https://www.lecodelsud.it/allarme-repressione-in-venezuela-deputato-arrestato-dopo-intervista-con-adnkronos
Venezuela, MP Di Giuseppe: “Italians at risk, no more posts on social media and arrest” https://pledgetimes.com/venezuela-mp-di-giuseppe-italians-at-risk-no-more-posts-on-social-media-and-arrest/
Venezuela, Congressman Di Giuseppe: “Italians at risk, just post on social and it triggers arrest” https://giornaledellumbria.com/venezuela-il-deputato-di-giuseppe-italiani-a-rischio-basta-post-su-social-e-scatta-arresto/
The tricolor community terrified by the arrests. ‘Help, we’re scared’ https://headtopics.com/it/la-comunita-tricolore-terrorizzata-dagli-arresti-aiuto-57235949
Más ignorantes que los comunistas – El Tempo https://revistametronomo.com/mas-ignorantes-que-los-comunistas-el-tempo/
The tricolor community has been appalled by the arrests. “Help, we’re scared” https://www.newsnetnebraska.org/the-tricolor-community-has-been-appalled-by-the-arrests-help-were-scared/
++ ‘Italian disappeared in Venezuela, no news since Friday’ ++
FdI deputy, ‘already arrested 3 years ago, report to the consul’
“There are many reports that I continue to receive regarding Italian Venezuelans arrested or wanted in Venezuela. One of the latest cases concerns Antonio Calvino, of Syracuse origins. Since last August 9th there has been no trace of Calvino, an opponent of the government, arrested three years ago during Covid in front of our consulate in Caracas for ‘incitement to hatred’ with the alleged accusation of wanting to attack our consulate and released last year under pressure from our own government. The Comites of Italians in Venezuela warned us (body that deals with the consulate, ed.). Anyone who refuses to go to his and his family’s home to see for themselves what happened, because they themselves are afraid of retaliation. So we reported the matter to the consul.” Thus Andrea Di Giuseppe, deputy of the Brothers of Italy elected abroad. (HANDLE). https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/cronaca/2024/08/11/sparito-italiano-in-venezuelanessuna-notizia-da-venerdi_d253eac2-b70b-4941-a85b-7160aa0849af.html
Venezuela, Fratelli d’Italia deputy reports: “An Italian has disappeared” https://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/mondo/venezuela-deputato-fratelli-d-italia-denuncia-sparito-italiano_85854234-202402k.shtml
Venezuela, concern for the missing Italians. Supreme Court: “Final verdict” https://tg24.sky.it/mondo/2024/08/11/venezuela-news
Venezuela, the odyssey of Italian opponents after Maduro’s victory: Rita Capriti locked in a room, Antonio Calvino vanished into thin air https://www.open.online/2024/08/11/venezuela-odissea-oppositori-italiani-maduro-rita-capriti-antonio-calvino/
“What happened to Syracuse’s Antonio Calvino in Venezuela?” https://www.lasicilia.it/siracusa/che-fine-ha-fatto-in-venezuela-il-siracusano-antonio-calvino-2231206/
Venezuela. Among the disappeared are two political dissidents of Italian origins. Palazzo Chigi and the Farnesina are mobilising https://associatedmedias.com/venezuela-tra-i-desaparecidos-due-dissidenti-politici-di-origini-italiane-si-mobilitano-palazzo-chigi-e-la-farnesina/
‘Italian missing in Venezuela, no news since Friday’ https://www.ansa.it/english/news/world/2024/08/11/italian-missing-in-venezuela-no-news-since-friday_8f2cfc07-14fa-4045-b35f-26e6f383de35.html
Venezuela, Antonio Calvino disappeared: no news since Friday https://livesicilia.it/venezuela-sparito-antonio-calvino-non-si-hanno-notizie-da-venerdi/
Venezuelan Italian missing for days, ‘we are concerned’ https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/cronaca/2024/08/11/italo-venezuelano-sparito-da-giorni-siamo-preoccupati_55bb78d2-ec7a-4a9e-8095-2de7246e94cf.html
Antonio Calvino, Italian missing in Venezuela: ‘No news since Aug. 9’ https://www.pointofnews.it/ultime_notizie_su_venezuela_fratelli
The tricolor community was grounded by the detentions. «Help, let’s take care of me» https://nuevaprensa.web.ve/la-comunidad-tricolor-quedo-aterrada-por-las-detenciones-ayuda-tenemos-miedo/
Américo Giuseppe de Grazia Veltri, a Venezuelan naturalized Italian politician who disappeared for days, is at the headquarters of the Venezuelan secret services. The Fdi deputy elected abroad, Andrea Di Giuseppe, reports this to Adnkronos. “De Grazia is currently a prisoner in a penitentiary center called El Helicoide. I spoke with the daughter of our compatriot, who confirmed to me that De Grazia is in this penitentiary, which is a torture center. One of the worst places you could find yourself in Venezuela,” says Di Giuseppe. El Helicoide is a building located in Caracas, owned by the Venezuelan government and used as a facility and prison for regular and political prisoners of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service. “I will shortly speak with the consul to ascertain De Grazia’s condition”, adds Di Giuseppe. Meanwhile, another Italian has disappeared. Antonio Calvino joins the long list of ‘disappeared’ people in Venezuela, after the unrest following the highly contested vote which saw the re-election of outgoing president Nicolas Maduro. Deputy Di Giuseppe confirms this. “Calvino – explains the parliamentarian to Adnkronos – was going to a meeting of a group of Italians in Caracas; he left home and never arrived at the meeting. The representative of the Comites of Caracas warned us. We tried to contact him, none of the friends had heard him. He doesn’t answer the phone. I called the consul, who is now going to check on his house.” Calvino’s disappearance comes after those of Williams Davila, deputy of the Venezuelan National Assembly and member of the international liberal Milton Friedman Institute, and of Americo de Grazia, former deputy, symbol of the opposition to Maduro. Currently, continues Di Giuseppe, it is not possible to provide a precise number of Italians who are missing: “The data is very fluid, people hide from apartment to apartment. The Italian community in Venezuela is 30% of the total population. A post in support of the opposition is enough to be arrested. They are setting up checkpoints where they check the phone. Then they come to the house and check there too. It is a situation that unfortunately can only get worse Brothers of Italy – is to secure the Italian community”
Venezuela, Supreme Court: “Final verdict”. Pressure also from Rome for the Italians arrested https://www.rainews.it/articoli/2024/08/venezuela-corte-suprema-verdetto-definitivo-pressione-anche-da-roma-per-gli-arrestati-italiani-fee8a93a-c247-487c-813a-7bc319eb9a81.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR037RPCTZqqV_6PzWor_IeA2xL1A-Jl6vqT2ma_w760jfOftG_bEQga1Fs_aem_MFl5BMRYz_NF_4hgaXDFGg
