
Oil tycoon Wilmer Ruperti showed up for a meeting with Venezuela’s intelligence agency last Thursday. A week later, he’s still in custody, one of his lawyers told Semafor.
“We’ve reached out to everybody trying to get proof of life or some support,” Winston & Strawn’s Cari Stinebower said, adding that officials still haven’t conveyed “how he’s being treated or why he’s being detained.”
Ruperti, who arrived at the meeting with a security detail, is a Venezuelan Italian shipping magnate who trades in petroleum coke. His detainment followed interim President Delcy Rodríguez’s decision to elevate the agency’s longtime chief to defense minister.
“The message is that Venezuela is open for business — but detaining businessmen for days on end without any due process or access to counsel is more old regime,” Stinebower said. “This is not law and order and not conducive of a welcoming business environment.”
The State Department and Energy Department did not respond to requests for comment.
LATEST POSTS
- 1
Living Abroad: Social Inundation and Self-improvement - 2
Scientists are getting our robotic explorers ready to help send humans to Mars - 3
UK forecast to face weaker growth and higher inflation from Iran war - 4
California officials warn against foraging wild mushrooms after deadly poisoning outbreak - 5
7 Powerful Methods for forestalling Telephone Overheating: Keep Your Gadget Cool
Step by step instructions to Explore the Close to home Consequence of Cellular breakdown in the lungs
Iran executes two men who tried storming military facility during January protest crackdown
Figure out How to Take part in Open Conversations Around 5G Pinnacles
4 Jeep Models: Dominating Execution and Flexibility for Each Experience
South Carolina confirms 124 new measles cases as outbreak on the Arizona-Utah line grows
Israel says Iran's military industry will be destroyed 'within days'
Let them eat (Taylor Swift) cake: The baker turning A-listers into life-size desserts
Sa'ar warns German delegation: 'A Palestinian state would be a Hamas terror state'
Rights group: At least 2,500 deaths during protest crackdown in Iran













