He was accused of terrorism. In June, WHO raised the alarm about his health
The long detention of Daniel Enrique Echenagucia Vallenilla, an Italian-Venezuelan entrepreneur originally from the Avellino area, ended today as he was released after more than two years in a cell in Venezuela. The news was announced by the Farnesina, which specified that after being released, Echenagucia "was received at the Consulate General of Italy in Caracas."
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani commented positively on his release, noting that the release "marks another step forward in the democratic transition process undertaken by Venezuela: I confirm Italy's availability to accompany — also as a member of the European Union — this path."
Echenagucia had been arrested on August 2, 2024, at a checkpoint of the Bolivarian National Guard in Valencia, in the state of Carabobo, while traveling by car with his wife and two children. According to the report by the non-governmental organization Foro Penal, which monitors the situation of political prisoners in the South American country, he had been charged with conspiracy, criminal association, terrorism, financing of terrorism, and treason.
After his arrest, he had been transferred to the military counterintelligence headquarters (Dgcim) in Caracas and later to the Rodeo I prison, in the state of Miranda. The judicial proceedings against him had suffered repeated postponements, until today's turning point.
His release came after the judicial authorities ordered the replacement of detention with precautionary measures, accepting a recommendation from the association Program for Democratic Coexistence and Peace. His situation had also been flagged by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), a body of the Organization of American States (OAS), which had warned of the risk of harm to his life, integrity, and health, citing alleged assaults, restrictions on contact with the outside world, and the lack of adequate care for several conditions, including chronic asthma, arthrosis, and hypertension.
The Program for Democratic Coexistence and Peace welcomed the release as a step in support of dialogue and national reconciliation, recalling the commitment of interim president Delcy Rodriguez to democratic coexistence and peace, in compliance with the country's laws.
Following the release of aid worker Alberto Trentini, freed on January 12, 2026, after 423 days of detention together with entrepreneur Mario Burlò, there would no longer appear to be any citizens holding only an Italian passport detained in Venezuela. Dozens of cases involving Italian-Venezuelans, however, remain. A dossier handed over last August by family members to the deputy elected in the overseas constituency for South America, Fabio Porta, listed among the names of detainees José Luongo, Juan Carlos Marrufo, Gerardo Cotticchia, Olvany Gasperi, Tulio Medina Gianfelice, Walter and Massimiliano Ranieri, Carmelo, Daniel and Levin De Grazia, and Daniel Necol Buttafuoco. Finally, the case of Hugo Enrique Marino Salas remains unresolved: he disappeared in April 2019 after being taken away, according to his family, by Venezuelan military counterintelligence agents, with no news of him since then.
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Translated from it by z-ai/glm-5.3-flash