At nightfall on February 26th, a group of miners from the town of El Callao stationed themselves on “Troncal 10” (Highway Nº, in the south of Bolívar State, to demand the release of some 49 miners who have been detained during a so-called security operation.
By La Patilla
Feb 28, 2023
The protesters pointed out that last Friday, February 24th, several miners were called to a meeting and when arriving at the meeting place, they were arrested.
“They work in the “La Bicli” mine. They called them to a meeting and ended up arresting them. We consider that a kidnapping, because we don’t know anything about them,” the miners denounced.
Jenny Paz pointed out that “we are all being affected by the abuses of the Government. We have 49 missing people, our relatives, neighbors, they are all in there. We want the government to release them and stop the many abuses with the different mining sectors here.”
“That they (government) assign us an area worthy of work, without being run over or rattled (being shaken down). Enough of the rattling, we are humble, hard-working people, we have no criminal records. We want the guarantee of peace and the livelihood of our families. Enough is enough, we don’t want any more violation of human rights here in the mining industry, enough of the abuse,” added Paz.
One of the miners declared through a video that “we are being harmed and run over by a government group that says we are criminals, but the truth is that we are workers and parents who need work to support our homes. We ask for your support, citizen governor, to be able to reintegrate ourselves into our work.”
“They (government police) are blaming them (miners) for something that they have not done. We are honest people. We only have our items to work with, we have not scammed or robbed anyone,” the miners added.
Until now, there has been no pronouncement by the regional entities or by the security forces on the situation that is also affecting drivers who drive through this road that connects not only with other mining towns, but also with Brazil.
…
Read More: La Patilla – Trunk 10 has been closed for more than 48 hours due to a protest in which they demand the release of at least 40 miners
…