VENEZUELA--Punish those who murdered the 3 workers' leaders in Aragua

[From www.ft-ci.org]

In view of the murder of three workers
Big national demonstration in Venezuela

By the LTS of Venezuela
Thursday, December 11, 2008

On Thursday, December 4, the big national protest meeting against hired killers and against impunity, called by the Unión Nacional de Trabajadores of Aragua state and several leftist political organizations, was carried out. Different national and regional coordinating committees of the Unión Nacional de Trabajadores, rank and file union leaders and hundreds of workers from the various factories of Aragua and the rest of Venezuela, participated. The event took place in Maracay in the facilities of Saniplásticas (opposite the enterprise Sanitarios Maracay, at the end of Avenida Aragua). The meeting had as its central objective denouncing the murder of the three union leaders of the regional union federation in Aragua, comrades Richard Gallardo, Luís Hernández y Carlos Requena, and demanding speed and transparency from the national government and the appropriate entities in the investigations of those responsible for this horrible homicide. The meeting is part of the regional plan of struggle adopted by the union federation of the state of Aragua to condemn and confront the scourge of paid assassins in the region and in the whole country. The members of the workers’ commission negotiating with the regional government presented a report on the state of the agreements. The Liga de Trabajadores por el Socialismo (LTS) was present at this big meeting called by the comrades of UNT-Aragua, as part of the tireless struggle that this crime should not remain unpunished, since, as we had said, this triple murder constitutes a harsh blow against the working class and its organizations. If we let it pass and remain as an unpunished act, the bosses, who daily resort more and more to “Colombianization” as a method to decide workers’ struggles (paying hired killers and paramilitaries to eliminate trade unionists), will not hesitate to rise up against all those workers that are calling for their basic rights and demands. It is the blood of the workers that is at risk, in view of the impunity of capital and the secret cooperation of the government.

During the demonstration, there was a call for the big national march that will take place in Maracay on Thursday, December 11, at 2 p.m., leaving from Avenida Bolívar and Ayacucho, and ending up at the former regional government headquarters, located beside Plaza Bolívar.