Tribuna Popular – This Tuesday, June 11, the Unitary Confederation of Workers of Venezuela (CUTV) presented a petition signed by 577 trade union leaders and activists from different countries requesting that the President of the Republic and the highest authorities of the Public Powers of Venezuela release the workers and union leaders unjustly imprisoned or with probation measures and restriction to their civil, union and political rights.
A delegation of the CUTV, led by its General Secretary Pedro Eusse, presented the document before the Presidency of the Republic, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Ombudsman’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office and the National Assembly, on the first anniversary of the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of the union leaders of [state iron firm] Siderúrgica del Orinoco (Sidor), Leonardo Azócar and Daniel Romero.
The petition was signed by workers and union leaders from Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, France, Greece, India, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Switzerland and Uruguay.
In the text, the signatories from different parts of the world affirm that «moved by the principles of proletarian internationalism and class union solidarity» they turn to the Venezuelan head of state to request «with the urgency of the case» the adoption of «the necessary measures and exercise the necessary actions, in order to grant full freedom without restrictions and reestablish labor and citizen rights to Venezuelan workers and union leaders who are deprived of their liberty or with probation measures and/or restriction of their rights and with different criminal proceedings in progress in Venezuela, for leading labor struggles, carrying out union actions, making denunciations or accused of crimes committed by third parties».
The list of adherents is headed by Quim Boix, General Secretary of the International Union of Pensioners and Retirees of the World Federation of Trade Unions (UIS PyJ-FSM). The Secretary of Organization of the UIS PyJ-FSM in Algeria, Bachir Hakem and the responsible for America, Mirtha Maldonado also did the same.
The President of the United Transport Federation of Latin America and the Caribbean, Marcos Lombardi; the President of the Confederation of Workers of Ecuador, Edgar Sarango; the General Secretary of the Workers Trade Union Front of the Canary Islands, Daniel Casal; the General Secretary of the United Confederation of Workers of Costa Rica, Bruno Coto; the General Secretary of the French-speaking Workers Association of Switzerland, Laurent Tettamanti; the General Secretary of the General Confederation of Workers of Peru, Geronimo Lopez Sevillano and the Coordinator of the Militant Front of Workers of Greece, George Perros.
To see the list of all the adherents, you can access the following link
The petition is reproduced below in full:
Citizen
Nicolás Maduro Moros
President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
C/c:
Magistrate Caryslia Beatriz Rodríguez
President of the Supreme Court of Justice
Tarek William Saab
Attorney General of the Republic
Alfredo Ruiz Angulo
Ombudsman
Jorge Rodríguez Gómez
President of the National Assembly
Mr. President, receive a cordial greeting, extended to all the authorities of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to whom we address a copy of this petition.
In our condition of union leaders from different latitudes of the planet, moved by the principles of proletarian internationalism and class union solidarity, we respectfully come to you with the purpose of requesting, with the urgency of the case, that you adopt the necessary measures and exercise the necessary actions, in order to grant full freedom without restrictions and reestablish the labor and citizens’ rights to Venezuelan workers and union leaders who are deprived of their liberty or with probation measures and/or restriction of their rights and with different criminal proceedings underway in Venezuela, either for leading labor struggles, carrying out union actions, making denunciations or accused of crimes committed by third parties; specifically, we refer to the following comrades:
LEONARDO AZÓCAR and DANIEL ROMERO. Workers of Siderúrgica del Orinoco (SIDOR), union leaders of the Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de la Industria Siderúrgica y sus Similares (SUTISS), were arrested on June 11, 2023 for supporting a legitimate workers’ protest at SIDOR’s Pellas Plant; consequently, they are facing a trial with procedural delay and are being held in a Judicial Boarding School for dangerous criminals. Daniel Romero has been denied urgent medical attention requested by the public defense, due to serious health conditions resulting from a beating at the time of his arrest.
STEELWORKERS PROSECUTED. On June 13, 2023, 22 workers (including several union leaders) of Siderúrgica del Orinoco (SIDOR), attached to Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), were subject to an injunction dictated by a court of the State of Bolivar, in response to the legal recourse filed by the employers, with the purpose of putting an abrupt end to the legitimate protest carried out by the workers at the Pellas Plant of SIDOR. The judicial precautionary measure orders such workers not to enter the work center, not to carry out union actions, not to carry out or participate in mobilizations or disseminate public denunciations, by any means (including social networks), qualifying such actions as promotion of terrorism and incitement to hatred.
JOHANA GONZÁLEZ. Worker at the service of [state oil firm] Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) in prison since March 2021; accused without evidence of a crime not committed by her, she was prevented from being released when the court ordered her release in 2022, violating due process; she has been denied considerations for medical and family reasons (she is the mother of two minor children).
ROBERT FRANCO. Educator, General Secretary of the Venezuelan Teachers’ Association (CPV), Carúpano Branch, Sucre state. He was arrested on December 26, 2020, accused without evidence of conspiring against the public authorities. In reality, the aforementioned is a full-time union leader; at the time of his arrest, he was an uncompromising defender of the rights of teachers in his geographical area. In May 2022, the court in charge of the case determined that he should be released, however, he continues to be deprived of his liberty.
VÍCTOR VENEGAS. Educator, President of the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Educación del estado Barinas (SINDITEBA), affiliated to the Federación Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (FENATEV); on January 17 of this year he was arrested with a violent police assault to the union’s headquarters and was prosecuted for leading demonstrations of education workers, demanding salary increases and the signing of the sector’s collective bargaining agreement; on March 10 he was conditionally released, with restrictions to the performance of his union activities.
EUDIS GIROT. PDVSA worker, General Secretary of the Union of Oil, Chemical and Similar Workers and Employees of Anzoátegui State (SUOEPQS) and Executive Secretary of the United Federation of Oil Workers of Venezuela (FUTPV); was imprisoned for 17 months for leading peaceful demonstrations of active and retired workers demanding compliance with the oil collective bargaining agreement and for denouncing administrative irregularities in PDVSA; currently on parole, with restrictions on the exercise of his citizen, union and political rights.
ROGER GONZÁLEZ, EUGENIO MONTES, LUIS RIVAS and MIGUEL ALVAREZ. Workers of the private company Embutidos ALIMEX, located in Barquisimeto, Lara State; they were deprived of liberty for almost two years and are being judicially processed for having demanded respect for their labor rights; currently on parole since 2021, with restrictions to their citizen and labor rights.
Likewise, we respectfully and firmly request you to adopt the decisions and execute the necessary actions so that the reiterated practices of criminalization and judicialization of labor struggles, as well as restrictions to the civil, union and political rights of workers who assume social struggles and critical positions, cease and are eradicated in Venezuela. Such practices, contrary to the law and denying the historical conquests of the workers’ movement in the world, would have serious aggravating factors if it is proven that there are violations to the due process and cruel treatment that, in different cases, have been denounced by relatives, union organizations and groups defending the rights of the workers unjustly imprisoned and prosecuted in Venezuela.
Mr. President, we, the undersigned, have repeatedly spoken out against the aggressions undertaken by the imperialist powers against the nation and the people of Venezuela. On this occasion, with the same conviction and firmness, we demand that the Venezuelan authorities fully guarantee the rights to freedom of association and peaceful protest of the Venezuelan working class.
Tribuna Popular 