Falling asleep has not been an easy task. Once her husband began to support the workers who sat idle at the “Pellas” (pig iron) plant at the “Siderúrgica del Orinoco” (Sidor), in Ciudad Guayana, 672.8 kilometers from Caracas, Angélica Serrano spent the nights worrying over her husband, Daniel Romero, and his daughter.
Pableysa Ostos // Correspondent lapatilla.com
On Sunday, June 11th, she spoke with Daniel at about 2:20 in the morning. In that call, he told her “that they had a meeting with the company (management) with the aim of resolving the situation. He has always called for peace and dialogue, for union.”
The woman had a “bad feeling” by the alleged meeting at that unseemingly time. She confesses that she was worried, and that fear turned into a nightmare hours later. “At 5:00 in the morning I wrote to him, no answer, I kept writing to him at different times and nothing. Later the other workers told me that they had arrested him.”
It took more than 10 hours for Angélica to hear the voice of her husband again. “At 4:00 in the afternoon he called me and told me that he was at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (Dgcim) for inquiries.”
She added that her husband asked her to please bring him clothes and food, since he suffers from a stomach condition. She went to the Dgcim and when she got there they told her that he was not there, that he had been taken to the National Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Command (Conas) of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB).
“I left his things there, but they didn’t let me see him. I have no information of where he is. Only the court-appointed lawyer who was assigned to him saw it and was the one who called me and informed me of what had happened. At no time as family members do we want to obstruct or impair a process. We just want them to let us see him, to let us know that it’s okay, to let the process unfold as required by law,” added Angélica.
No answers
In another home in Ciudad Guayana, concern is “on the surface.” Together with Daniel Romero, Leonardo Azócar was apprehended. His brother, José Ángel Azócar, affirmed that he is unaware of Leonardo’s current situation and whereabouts, since they have not been allowed to see him, not even his lawyers.
“He left his house at 12:00 midnight on Sunday bound for the company. We presume that as soon as he got out of it they intercepted him and took him away. I have been calling him since 8:00 in the morning of that Sunday, June 11th, and the phone has been switched off. Then I called at 9:00 in the morning, at 10:00 and nothing. At that time I called the rest of my family and told them that something was happening,” said José Ángel.
He describes that they began to move, looking for information to find the whereabouts of his brother and it was not until 3:00 in the afternoon that Leonardo’s arrest was confirmed. “And it was not because we saw it, far from it, but because we have friends around the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigation Corps (Cicpc) in San Félix and they saw it when they took him down (stepped out of the vehicle). He arrived guarded like any drug trafficker, with any number of officials.”
“They took him away and they designated the defense (lawyers) themselves. Today we do not know if he is here, if he is in Caracas, if he is fine, if he has eaten or if he has changed his clothes,” said José Ángel, who also called the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to put in question the situation of the country’s political prisoners on the table.
He must quit
This Tuesday, June 13th, the Governor of Bolívar State, Ángel Marcano, answered in a press conference to a question related to the arrest of the union leaders that he does not know what is happening with the workers who are detained. “I don’t know about that, not even that they are detained. All I know is what the networks say, but I do not know even if they have been detained and I do not like to get too involved in these matters,” Marcano declared.
“What I can tell the governor is that he must quit because, can you imagine that he is the governor of the state and does not know what is happening in his jurisdiction? Where he is standing? Particularly when this is a case that has even had international repercussionec. Because they are a “muscle” (group) of workers who are fighting for their labor rights,” emphasized José Ángel Azócar.
Worries
When asked if his brother had been asked to stop the protests and union struggles for fear of reprisals, José Ángel Azócar replied: “Whoever gets into these tasks knows what they are facing and the risk this carries, because this is not the first case and it will not be the last.”
Daniel Romero’s wife disclosed her fear for her husband’s safety. “This silence is not good and his state of health is not good. He vomits everything he eats after 4:00 in the afternoon. That is why he must have his medicine and medical attention.”
“I thank all the people who have supported him, especially the workers, but I ask those people who want to gain fame with this case, to stay away, since they make publications without even knowing anything. Politically, my husband is not in the opposition and for that he has been highly criticized. This case is not political and to the people in charge of this process, (I ask) that they allow us to see him for 5 minutes. His parents are older and they suffer from high blood pressure,” Angélica Serrano implored.
It was learned that the crimes imputed to Daniel Romero and Leonardo Azócar were the following: boycott, criminal association and incitement to hatred. The case is in charge of the 1st Court of Control of Economic Crime (which is the same 5th Control Court) and the 3rd Prosecutor’s Office of the Public Ministry. For now, it was issued as a preventive measure, the deprivation of liberty of both trade unionists.
The hearing was held at the Dgcim, in Puerto Ordaz, and the Center for Prosecuted, Convicted, and Women’s Annex of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas II, Maximum Security Area, located in Boleíta Norte, Caracas, was ordered as the detention site.
Who are the arrested trade unionists?
Daniel Romero has four children (all minors). He has more than 12 years of service at Sidor and was as non-required personnel (non-critical). He is a base worker, specifically in the billet area.
Romero has a stomach condition, so he needs a special diet. He was also a candidate for Mayor of the Sifontes Municipality in 2021 for the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV).
Leonardo Azócar is a worker from the hot rolling area with 34 years of service. He is the Secretary of Labor and Claims of the Single Union of Workers in the Steel Industry and Similar (Sutiss). He has 8 children and is the fourth of seven siblings.
His father is Luis Azócar Malavé, the first President of Sutiss. He managed to sign the first collective contract with Sidor and the bases, as well as the collective contract for the other basic companies in Ciudad Guayana. He has been the only union leader to sue a state company and win the trial.
We have rights
César Soto, a Sidor worker and member of the Unity in Coincidence Movement, denounced the repression and the intimidation methods that they are implementing within state companies.
“We have the right to claim what corresponds to us by law, because the salary we earn is not enough to eat.”
For its part, the company appealed for constitutional protection to dissolve the labor strike that had been taking place since Wednesday, June 7th, at the “pellas” (pig iron) plant.
A GNB commission notified and read the constitutional mandate at night on Tuesday the 13th in the production area.
Military officials warned the workers Leonardo Azócar, Daniel Romero, José Mago, Roger Alejandro Herrera, Jackson José Astudillo, Yvan de Jesús Hitao, Oscar Enrique Maíz, Yin Rendón, Carlos Patiño, Miguel Ángel Susarret, Zoni Lizardi, Remmys José Ramos, Ramón Marín, Javier Alexander Rivas, Víctor Sulbarán, Richar Roberto, Oliver Herrera, Álvaro Luces, Hermes Rodríguez, Yucxil Martínez, César Soto and Simosa Armando that if this mandate was violated, their arrests may take place, and so it happened.
The First Trial Judge, Maribel Del Valle Rivero, decreed an broad precautionary measure in a constitutional protection action
Hidden
Some of the workers named in the notification were present at a march that workers carried out on June 14th, from the CVG Monument square, passing through the CVG headquarters up to the courts.
At night, workers reported that a commission (police detachment) had arrived at Yucxil Martínez’s house. A neighbor saw the commission and warned him. Yucxil had the opportunity to leave through the back of the house with his two children. Both he and other colleagues are in hiding.
The Venezuelan NGO Venezuelan Program for Education Action in Human Rights (Provea) demanded the release of the detained trade unionists.
“We demand their immediate release and respect for all their collective demands. The State once again fails to comply with all the recommendations of the International Labor Organization (ILO,” the ONG stated through a message on Twitter.
Provea assured that so far in 2023, at least 21 Sidor employees have been deprived of their liberty (euphemism for arrested) for demanding job improvements and payment of debts.
“Daniel Romero, Juan Cabrera (released hours after his arrest) and Leandro Azócar join the list of workers victims of arbitrary arrests by the ‘workers’ government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela,” said the NGO, which also noted that in January, another 18 Sidor workers were arrested and later released.