On Tuesday, September 17, the daughter of the leader and political prisoner Américo De Grazia, María Rosa De Grazia, addressed the Senate of the Italian Republic through the Human Rights Commission to present the case of arbitrary detention of which the former mayor of the Piar municipality is being a victim; and to request the intervention of the Italian Government in view of the irregularities of the arrest.
Maria Rosa De Grazia asked the Italian ambassador in Venezuela, Giovanni Umberto De Vito, to visit her father in El Helicoide, a penitentiary located in Caracas, to check on his physical condition and verify that he is still alive. She also asked him to take the necessary steps to have the prisoner transferred to Italy.
“In August we lost all contact with my father. We learned that he was being held in the prison known as El Helicoide, the largest torture center in Latin America. What does it mean to be detained in El Helicoide? It is not just a prison, it is known to be one of the most brutal detention centers. Human rights violations are common. There are reports of torture and abuse. My father is isolated, even though he requires urgent health treatment. We are desperate, my grandmother Maria De Grazia is almost ninety years old and is strong and determined, but she has been living a nightmare since her son was arrested. What do we have in the Venezuelan and Italian governments? Mr. Senator, there is a policy in Venezuela that involves several Italian citizens and requires urgent intervention by the government. I want the competent authority to intervene decisively for my father’s life,” concluded De Grazia.
Moment
According to recent statements by the Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Diosdado Cabello, Américo De Grazia was arrested 41 days ago for his alleged involvement in an attempted murder of the current mayor of Piar, Yulisbeth García.
“I speak as the daughter of Américo De Grazia, an Italian citizen and political prisoner of the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela (…). My father has been detained for forty days. Without trial. Without rights and without his family being able to receive certain information about his state of health or his medical condition, a condition that is not exclusive to our family. I draw attention to the systematic violation of human rights in Venezuela, where many other citizens, including many Italians, are victims of political persecution,” De Grazia began her statement.
Italians arrested in Venezuela
At the end of August, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani requested the release of all political prisoners with Italian passports in Venezuela, referring to the arrest of former MP Biagio Pilieri and his son Jesús Pilieri.
By then, there were at least six political prisoners with Italian nationality following the electoral process of July 28, according to national media records.
“My father dedicated more than 40 years to politics. Always for the rights of the Venezuelan people. My father did not remain indifferent to the suffering and always made his voice heard against the injustice of the regime,” continued De Grazia, who recalled her father’s exile in 2019 after living 6 months inside the Italian Embassy for his political activity (…) He decided to return to Venezuela. He has not stopped fighting for freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, the regime did not give any respite. Most of our family’s economic activities have been confiscated by the government,” said the speaker.
De Grazia also emphasized that the case of the leader of Guayana Libre is not isolated, but rather represents “the reflection of a crisis of thousands of people in Venezuela, in the hands of a State that systematically violates them,” he concluded.
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2024-09-20 03:13:09
