“It was a very difficult ordeal for him to be free and nothing else,” explained the mother of the Toulouse man who spent four months in detention in Venezuela for no official reason.
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“I don’t think his condition is too bad compared to everything he’s been through,” said Tuesday, November 18 on ICI Occitanie (former France Bleu) Hélène Boursier, mother of Camilo Castro from Toulouse, was released in Venezuela after four months in detention. The 41-year-old yoga teacher touched down Sunday afternoon at Paris’ Orly airport, greeted by his family and French diplomacy chief Jean-Noël Barrot. “It was a very difficult ordeal for him to be free and not the others”he assured.
“He talked to us a lot, I think he was clear, he wanted to do something”continued Hélène Boursier. “He’s there, he’s with us, but prison is always in his head.”said his mother. Camilo Castro disappeared on June 26 on the border between Venezuela and Colombia, where he lived. He went there to renew his visa and was arrested “no reason”said his mother again. Venezuelan authorities were slow to admit they were holding him and never provided a reason for his arrest.
“He had a lot of relationships with the prisoners he left behind.”he said. “He is doing everything he can, with the phone numbers he remembers, to communicate with the family, trying to reassure them, we will consider everything we can do to help them (…) but we will also do the maximum to protect him and also for him to rebuild himself”continued Hélène Boursier.
According to his mother, Camilo Castro experienced it “psychological torture” during his detention in Venezuela. “He often looked down on her, because he believed he was ‘lucky’ compared to other people”he slipped. “We have to speak carefully and be very careful,” added the longtime Amnesty International activist.
