
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
Support Your Investment funds with These Individual accounting Thoughts - 2
Lily Allen 2026 'West End Girl' Tour: How to get tickets, prices, presale info and more - 3
Comet Lemmon and Milky Way spotted over Hawaii | Space photo of the day for Dec. 12, 2025 - 4
PHOTO ESSAY: Summer camp for kids with autoimmune diseases - 5
What's the Fate of 5G Innovation?
Trial of pro-Palestine activist begins
Watching ‘Home Alone’ with the kids this holiday season? Brace yourself for '6-7.'
How HIV/AIDS got its name − the words Americans used for the crisis were steeped in science, stigma and religious language
Must-See Attractions in Australia
Modern surgery began with saws and iron hands – how amputation transformed the body in the Renaissance
What's going around right now? COVID, flu, stomach bug on the rise
I decided to become a single mother by choice. I wasn't ready to stop dating.
Rediscovering Imagination in Adulthood: Individual Creative Excursions
6 Robot Vacuum Cleaners for Easy Home Cleaning













