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?"