March 15, 2007
Interview with Donato Di Santo , Italy 's sub-secretary of state for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Latin America
Italy supports security agreement with Venezuela

(El Universal) - 'I am a man of the Left,' that's how sub-secretary of state for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Latin America in Italy, Donato Di Santo, who visited Venezuela for three days, defines himself.

The Italian official met with representatives of the Government, the Legislative Power, and the opposition and he had the opportunity to witness both positive and worrying aspects of the Venezuelan political scene.

Q. What brings you to Venezuela?

A. This is an official visit in order to promote relations and cooperation between our two countries. During these first few months of the Romano Prodi administration, I have received the mandate to develop relations between Italy and Latin American countries. These relations have been left unattended, stagnating, and that is not good. Italy has a vocation toward Latin America, not only because of the size of Italian communities living here, but because we share a common political, cultural, institutional, social, and human character. Our objective is to strengthen the bases for a new era of encounters and cooperation at all levels (...)

Q. What is your impression of Venezuela ?

A. I'm left with an impression of a work in progress, with many novel and never-before-seen things happening, but with a strong will to develop activities, actions, in order to lower poverty levels and solve some big social problems. The visit to the Charallave railway line left me with a very overwhelming and positive feeling that a lot of important things were being achieved and I felt proud that some of them were being done with the participation of companies and people from my country. Of course, there are also a number of things that we hope to better understand that do not have a negative impact, like a certain concentration of powers, I am referring to the special powers law, but these are measures that come from a legitimate government that was elected by the people (...).