According to the information provided by the leaders of the sector who carry out their union activity in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the FELATRABS, Latin American and Caribbean Federation of Banking, Insurance and Related Workers, firmly condemns the arrest and sentence given to the companions Gabriel Blanco, Néstor Astudillo, Reynaldo Cortés, Alcides Bracho, Alonso Meléndez and Emilio Negrín. The penalty of 16 years in prison is to keep silence the voice of those who fight for the defence of the working class.
It is important to highlight that, throughout the trial, the accusing party, the Prosecutor’s Office, did not presented conclusive evidence that merits any crime, other than the fight carried out by these colleagues in demand of better economic and working conditions for the labour movement.
They are accused of serious crimes such as Conspiring and Associating to Commit Crime since July 2022. What these comrades did was participate in the mobilizations and demands of Human Labour Rights, for Fair Wages and against memorandum 2792 and subsequent ONAPRE (Oficina Nacional de Presupuesto – National Budget Office) instructions that curtailed all the rights and achievements of the Venezuelan Trade Union Movement in years of struggle.
This judicial action violates ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and the protection of the right to unionize, which dates back to 1948.
We demand the immediate freedom of the six companions!
Luis Fernando Iraola Campero – Executive Secretary
Miguel Angel Duche – Secretary if Organization and Finances
Arturo Fabian Quiñoa – General Secretary
José Jesus Trabulo de Souza – President
