Sidor workers forced to renovate Tocuyito and Tocorón prisons

Lapland

August 15, 2024, 12:23 PM

Workers employed by “base companies” in Guayana (huge state-owned mining, steel and aluminum conglomerates in southern Venezuela) have gone through several “phases” in their work activities in recent years.

Pableysa Ostos / Correspondent lapatilla.com

They have been classified as ‘non-essential workers’, have faced persecution, aggression and on top of that, uncertain working conditions in terms of safety, medical care and other issues.

But now a new complaint has been filed by the workers, specifically those of Siderúrgica del Orinoco (Sidor, the Venezuelan government’s iron and steel conglomerate), based in the state of Bolívar in the south of the country.

One of the workers contacted by the lapatilla.com team admits that “there is a lot of secrecy, the workers don’t dare to talk. They are even afraid to send photos. All the photos, all the videos from inside the factory (ironworks).”

But another worker confirmed the situation, the new ‘phase’ in which the steelworkers have been deployed.

“They called on a group of workers from Sidor, as well as from other basic companies, to renovate some prisons in the center of the country, in Maracay and Caracas.”

The penitentiaries the union leader is referring to are the Aragua Penitentiary Center, known as Tocorón, and the El Rodeo Judicial Internment Center.

“The information I have is that they pay $500 a week, $500 a week to do that work. That was a proposal that Sidor management made to some workers in the factory. Some refused, others decided to leave and are currently providing this type of service in the renovation and refurbishment of some correctional centers,” the worker added.

On August 2, Nicolás Maduro reported that two maximum-security prisons are being prepared to house Venezuelans arrested during the protests that took place in the country following the presidential election.

“I am preparing two prisons that I have to have ready in 15 days. They are already being repaired,” Maduro said during an event broadcast by state television channel VTV.

In his speech he added: “All guarimberos (protesters) go to Tocorón and Tocuyito, maximum security prisons,” he said, referring to two prisons that were controlled by criminal gangs for years until they were occupied by state security forces last year.

Fear of speaking

The union leader admitted that there is a lot of fear among the workers. “What happens is that the boys say it and out of fear they don’t write anything on the phones. I got this information through WhatsApp on a phone call.”

He admitted that workers are afraid to pass on information because “anyone who passes on information through their phone also risks losing their freedom.”

“All Sidor employees have their phones monitored in a situation room, where Sidor has to listen to all calls and messages from employees referring to complaints about the bad things happening in the workshop and the reality of the industrial estate in terms of production.”