The French citizen Camilo Castro, a yoga teacher whose arrest in Venezuela occurred under unspecified circumstances, They released him, highlighting the practice of Nicolás Maduro’s government of using foreigners as diplomatic “bargain chips.”
Camilo Castro is a 41-year-old yoga teacher, who had developed a link with Latin America, teaching meditation classes in Colombia. In his desire to settle permanently in the region, he had acquired land in the neighboring country.
However, to avoid losing his residence permit, he made the decision that would seal his dramatic temporary fate: cross the land border with Venezuela through Paraguachón, Zulia state, with the intention of resealing your tourist passport.
Although French citizens generally do not require a visa to enter Venezuela, Castro was intercepted by the National Guard at the checkpoint on June 26, 2025.
They interrogated him and detained him under the pretext of appearing “suspicious”, without formal charges ever being brought against him.
Castro’s case fits a pattern of arrests that human rights organizations warn: the Venezuelan government is holding foreign citizens, often under serious charges of conspiracy or espionage that he rarely manages to prove. These detainees are then used as assets to negotiate with other countries.
NTN24 knew thatThe ruling party tends to accuse foreigners of having links with mercenary groups that seek destabilization, although The real motivations behind these arrests are ambiguous. A source indicated that it is difficult to know if the authorities really believe these accusations, living in a “state of panic”, or if they are completely inventing them to justify their actions.
After the release, French President Emmanuel Macron thanked those involved and stated that France is moving forward “in silence, but always with determination and serenity: this is how we protect our own”, confirming the discreet management diplomacy behind the yoga teacher’s outcome.
