Pubdate: Wed, 17 Dec 2003
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2003, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/home.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Thane Burnett

HAVE PITY FOR HIS KIN

The party wasn't supposed to end like it did. But now, after meeting a man 
at a Winnipeg gathering, and agreeing to be a drug mule, Filipe Valente's 
family is left sending all the money they can spare, just to keep him safe 
inside a South American prison.

LOST 30 POUNDS

You don't have to feel sorry for the 24-year-old autobody assistant, caught 
smuggling cocaine last January. But pity his family.

"We send him money, but we think the guards keep half," says Christina 
Valente, Filipe's sister.

The Winnipeg family sends Filipe $100 Cdn. each month. It buys him some 
slack from prison officials. He has a cousin in Venezuela, who also brings 
him food, though Filipe has already lost 30 pounds.

His family has been petitioning to transfer him to a Canadian jail, where 
he can serve out his term.

He's one of five Canadians in custody in Venezuela.

"He regrets what he's done," says Christina, who says her brother was 
offered between $10,000 and $50,000 to be a drug mule.

Filipe told his family he was taking a trip to Toronto.

Instead, he made his way to Colombia and into Venezuela, where he was found 
carrying 4 kg of cocaine. He was almost on the plane.

"He was sweating, which is why he was caught," Christina says. "(Guilt) was 
written all over him."

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The episode has devastated the family, as much as it's hit Filipe. His 
sister notes: "They say he's not treated badly, but when you have a loved 
one so far from home ... in jail, what's badly?"
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