Camilo Castro, released after more than four months in captivity in Venezuela, was reunited with his loved ones

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Surrounded by his loved ones, Camilo Castro set foot on French soil as a free man on Sunday afternoon, November 16. Overcome with emotion, he only said a few words when he arrived at Orly airport: “Live freedom. Long live equality and long live brotherhood.”

The reunion with his mother, sister, and stepfather had occurred minutes earlier in privacy. Camilo Castro briefly explains to his loved ones the conditions of his detention in Venezuela. “Sanitary conditions, conditions of daily confinement, isolation, relations with guards and so on. We haven’t learned it all, but the little he told us, it was truly exhausting“, explained his father-in-law, Yves Gilbert.

The 41-year-old yoga teacher disappeared on June 26, 2025. At that time, he was living in Colombia and his residence visa had expired. To renew it, he had to leave the country. He then plans to make a short trip back to Venezuela to get his passport stamped. Depart from Palomino (Colombia) and head to the Paraguachón border post. Here is the last message he sent to his family, before being arrested by Venezuelan authorities: “It’s very disturbing for me to be on this side of the border, because I don’t know what will happen.”

After four months in detention, his mother, Hélène Boursier felt immense relief: ““What we went through was terrible, it was unusual, we don’t want to go through it again, we don’t want anyone to go through it again.” His release will be without compensation, said Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. He said he was monitoring the situation of more than 2,000 French people detained or detained abroad.