'Italian missing in Venezuela, no news since Friday'

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 11 - An Italian man already arrested in Venezuela three years ago has been missing since Friday August 9 amid a crackdown on protests against the controversial re-election of President Nicolas Maduro, an MP for Premier Giorgia Meloni's ruling Brothers of Italy (FdI) party said Sunday.
    "There are many reports I keep receiving about Venezuelan Italians arrested or wanted in Venezuela. One of the latest cases concerns Antonio Calvino, of Syracusan origin," said Andrea Di Giuseppe, who was elected abroad.
    "Since 9 August there has been no trace of Calvino, an opponent of the government, who was arrested three years ago during the Covid pandemic in front of our consulate in Caracas for 'incitement to hatred' on the alleged charge of wanting to attack our consulate and released last year under pressure from our own government.
    "It was the Comites of Italians in Venezuela (a body that deals with the consulate, ed) that warned us.
    "Everyone is refusing to go to his home and family to see for themselves what has happened, because they themselves are afraid of retaliation.
    "So we reported the matter to the consul". (ANSA).