On his third visit to Venezuela in the past nine months, Under-Secretary Giro met with Italian nationals in the cities of Caracas and Maracay. The large Italian community in that country – nearly 1.5 million – is a “highly significant and strongly-rooted group for which the government’s attention remains acute at this particularly delicate moment for Venezuela”, the under-secretary asserted.
The Italo-Venezuelan Centre in the capital and Casa Italia in Maracay were the settings for an in-depth exchange of views with Italian community representatives (members of COMITES, CGIE, and Italo-Venezuelan associations) regarding the community’s problems and prospects. Concerns for the economic situation were especially high (expropriations and difficulties accessing food and healthcare), in addition to political and social tensions that were liable to lead to rights violations.
Departing from the observation that “our communities abroad are not a burden, but a resource to be tapped”, the under-secretary also discussed the need to avoid the introduction of “social hate policies”, urging the Italian nationals themselves to act as the agents of dialogue.
Participants in the encounters included the wives of Italo-Venezuelans Vincenzo Scarano e Salvatore Lucchese, respectively former mayor and police chief of the town of San Diego, and the mother of a student arrested during the protests that erupted earlier in the year.
The under-secretary’s visit will continue with a series of institutional meetings and with representatives of Italian businesses operating in Venezuela.
