Socialism and Freedom Party
The Socialism and Freedom Party categorically rejects the possible forceful disappearance and detention of lawyer Eduardo Torres, who for more than a decade has stood out as a defender of human rights, particularly labor rights. Torres in 2013 was defense attorney for Ferrominera del Orinoco union leader Ruben Gonzalez, and more recently has been a defender of many of the people detained in the framework of the protests against the July 28 electoral fraud. He is also secretary of Claims and Collective Contracting of the Association of University Professionals in Administrative and Technical Functions of the Central University of Venezuela (Apufat).
Eduardo Torres has been missing since Friday, May 9, after leaving a meeting in Parque Central, at approximately 4 o’clock in the afternoon. At that time he communicated with his family, notifying that he was on his way home. Since then his whereabouts are unknown.
Torres’ case is one more in a long list of human rights activists, political leaders, trade unionists and popular leaders who are routinely detained, or forcibly disappeared, simply for defending their labor and social rights, for denouncing corruption in government agencies or for expressing their political opinions.
In Venezuela, human rights are systematically violated. Maduro’s government and Fedecámaras1 have shredded labor rights, decimating wages to the point of non-existence. Collective bargaining agreements, if signed, are ignored. Democracy among workers and grassroots unions was destroyed, anchoring them to the CSBT2, which has never fought for anything and is submissive to the government. Social security and savings funds, which in the past were used to support the acquisition of housing, health care or to support our children’s studies, do not exist today. Social benefits are discussed in secret, between employers and the government, who they seek to agree on how to eliminate them minimizing costs. The constitution and the LOTTT3 are dead letter, since the labor guidelines are the Onapre tables and memorandum 27924, which deepen labor flexibilization. And if any union leader, fully entitled to do so, raises his voice in defense of his rights, he is put behind bars. Among the workers and popular sectors that struggle, the government sowed terror. In Venezuela more is invested in repressive agencies than in hospitals and education. More is invested in bonuses than in salaries.
In addition to labor and social rights, the government represses and criminalizes labor and popular protest and any manifestation of political dissidence. The government does so in order to perpetuate itself in power and to continue applying capitalist austerity without obstacles and in the midst of terror, in agreement with Fedecámaras, Conindustria5 and the national and transnational capitalists as a whole, putting the burden of the crisis on the shoulders of the working people.
Precisely, within this framework of restriction of democratic liberties, the electoral farce scheduled for May 25 will take place, an event in which we already know in advance who will be the winner.
From the Socialism and Freedom Party, we hold the government and the security agencies responsible for the physical and personal integrity of Eduardo Torres. We demand that they respond immediately about his whereabouts and that he be released. Defending and demanding respect for our rights is not a crime.
Spanish original in Laclase.info
Translator’s notes:
1.-Fedecámaras is an acronym for Federation of Venezuelan Chambers and Associations of Commerce and Production, the main capitalists’ syndicate in Venezuela.
2.-CSBT stands for Bolivarian Socialist Workers’ Union and is the government controlled Chavista union.
3.-Labor and Workers’ Organic Law, imposed by decree by late president Chávez in 2012, undermines workers’s rights.
4.-Maduro’s Labor Ministry issued the 2792 Memorandum in 2018, de facto demolishing collective bargaining by giving the Minister the power to modify labor contracts, arguing high wages threaten jobs. The National Budget Office (Onapre) issued in 2022 the document titled Instructions for the Adjustment Process of the Remuneration System of the Public Administration, Collective Bargaining Agreements, Special Tables and Strategic Companies. Through this instrument, the government unilaterally imposed misery wages on State workers. As a consequence of these counter-reforms, in the Venezuelan public and private sectors most of the workers’ income is paid in the form of bonuses, not wages.
5.- Conindustria is the Venezuelan Confederation of Industrialists, which represents capitalists from the manufacturing sector. Conindustria is affiliated to Fedecámaras.
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