Ana Rivero is 70 years old, of which she has spent the last 18 years working in a school in “Los Guayos” Municipality, Carabobo State. But this Monday she did not assist to her post in order to join the demonstration carried out by education workers in this town demanding wage and labor improvements.
By La Patilla
Mar 6, 2023
With banners and pans in hand, the teachers, administrators, and workers gathered at the overpass of “Vivienda Popular de Los Guayos”.
Ms.Rivero pointed out that her quality of life is deteriorating daily, because her biweekly salary of 130 bolivars is not enough to cover her basic food and medicine expenses.
“The president with that (money of the)Caribbean Series that he organized here in Venezuela, he had to provide (for) the schools, the teachers who are earning very little, the workers. I am a worker and that is not enough for me to go to a supermarket. I buy the least (amount) and cheapest food there is, yellow flour, yellow flour is for dogs (…) I suffered an accident five years ago and I was left suffering from my leg, what resources do I have to buy my medicine? None! I have to go to the naturists to buy plants, because the treatment is very expensive in the pharmacy and the base (pay) does not give me enough to buy it, because the salary is not decent,” she said.
The teachers assured that 57 days after the start of the protests throughout the country, the only response they have received from the government authorities has been silence.
The President of the College of Teachers in Carabobo, Zaida Silva, reiterated that they demand a salary that allows them to cover the basic basket, as established in article 91 of the Constitution.
She stated that when teachers go out to protest in the streets, they are also teaching students to fight for their rights.
“They demand that we go to class. We love our students, we have a profession and vocation, but with an empty stomach, neither the students can study nor the teachers can teach classes. Teachers are not aliens, we are mothers, grandmothers, who have children and leave them without food, nourishment or medicine,” she argued.
For his part, the coordinator of the Trade Union Coalition in Carabobo, Juan Tortolero, denounced the deterioration of the infrastructure of the educational establishments and the irregularity in the School Food Program.
“100% of the schools have a deficit in water, electricity, equipment and services, infrastructure deterioration, lack of roofs, but all of them, 100% have some deficiency,” he stated.
The teachers stressed that, despite the threats and intimidation by superiors, they will not abandon the fight in the streets until their claims are addressed.
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