Italy protests to Venezuela over arrest of NGO worker

ROME (Reuters) - Italy summoned Venezuela's chief diplomat in Rome on Wednesday to protest over a lack of information on the fate of an Italian national arrested in the Latin American country two months ago, the foreign ministry said.

NGO worker Alberto Trentini, 45, was arrested in Venezuela in November but no formal charges have been pressed against him, his family has said, urging Rome's government to maximise efforts for his release.

"This morning I summoned Venezuela's charge d'affaires to strongly protest against the lack of information on the detention of Italian citizen Alberto Trentini and to challenge the expulsion of three of our diplomats," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X.

Daily la Repubblica reported that Trentini was stopped on Nov. 15 at a roadblock, taken to a jail in Caracas, and denied contact with his family. His mother told the newspaper he has health problems and has no medicines with him.

Reuters emailed the Venezuelan embassy in Rome seeking a comment.

The arrest took place against the backdrop of deteriorating relations between Italy and Venezuela, after Rome, along with other nations, did not recognise the victory of Nicolas Maduro in the July 2024 presidential elections.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday called the brief arrest of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, hours before Maduro's inauguration for a third term in office, an "unacceptable act of repression".

Earlier this month, Italy obtained the release of journalist Cecilia Sala from prison detention in Iran.

"We trust that Prime Minister Meloni and the ministers will work with the same commitment and dedication they have shown (with Sala) to protect another Italian, to bring Alberto back to Italy soon, unharmed," Trentini's mother told la Repubblica.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante, editing by Alvise Armellini, William Maclean)