- Norberto Paredes
- BBC News World
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Thousands of workers took to the streets of Venezuela this January 23 demanding a leveling of wages in line with the increase in inflation and the high cost of the basic family basket.
After several years without mass protests, thousands of public sector workers have once again taken to the streets of Venezuela to demand better wages and pensions.
Teachers, nurses, police officers, among other workers linked to the public administration -many of them retired- have been demonstrating for several weeks in the main cities of the country with banners that read “No more hunger wages” and “No to death pensions.
The minimum wage in the public sector in Venezuela, the country’s largest employer, has been set since March 2022 at 130 bolivars a month (about US$6), an amount that has depreciated rapidly due to the runaway inflation which, according to the Venezuelan Finance Observatory, was 305.7% last year.
Likewise, the amount of the state pension is also equal to the minimum wage.
Meanwhile, a kilo of chicken in a supermarket in Caracas, the country’s capital, can cost about US$4.5 (75% of the monthly minimum wage) and that of a local cheese can reach US$5 in a context of dollarization. de facto of the economy. Payments are made in dollars, or in bolivars, but always with the North American currency as a reference.
“I went out to protest because this government has to vindicate my profession. It is not possible that I, being a category 6 teacher (the highest) and with more than 20 years of service, am earning 450 bolívares a month (US$22)” Belkis Bolívar told BBC Mundo this week, from Caracas.
“I went out to protest because I want to vent, I want people to know that I’m tired and angry because my salary is not enough for me to live,” adds the 56-year-old woman, who has a teenage son and an 85-year-old mother who depend on her salary.
Belkis suffers from rheumatism and says that he cannot afford the necessary treatments and examinations to treat the disease.
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A health worker in front of a riot police security cordon in Caracas.
In addition, her mother suffers from cardiovascular disease after undergoing open heart surgery, but she also has no money to buy medicine.
“I have to work miracles so that my family can survive. I have sell food and give private classesbecause the salary is not enough for us to cover our most basic needs”, he continues.
“I’m marching because I have to vent my frustration somehow and to support my colleagues and many other public sector workers who have also taken to the streets for the starvation wages we have.”
The Venezuelan government blames the sanctions imposed by the United States due to the devaluation of wages.
“Regarding salaries, all Venezuelans are unhappy, but we must remember that it is the fault of the sanctions,” said congressman Diosdado Cabello, president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and one of the high-ranking officials of the ruling party, last week.
Parallel to the protest by teachers and workers on January 23, President Nicolás Maduro organized a march in western Caracas attended by hundreds of supporters of his government to demand that “the criminal sanctions imposed against Venezuela” be lifted.
However, the opposition alleges that the crisis is the result of mismanagement by the country’s leaders.
According to economists, the runaway inflation in Venezuela was initially fueled by the Maduro government’s decision to print money without productive backing in order to maintain subsidies and welfare programs after assuming the presidency in 2013.
At the same time, he imposed price controls and fixed the exchange rate, creating a black market.
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Protest in Caracas, on January 23, 2023.
Although the country came out of hyperinflation in December 2021 and had relative stability for a few months and there was economic liberalization, the Venezuelan currency registered an abrupt devaluation of almost 25% in August of last year, when the official price went from 6 .28 bolivars per dollar to 7.83 bolivars in just two days. In the parallel market, the monetary devaluation was 33%.
Since then the bolivar has been in free fall against the dollar US.
Leonardo Vera, professor at the School of Economics at the Central University of Venezuela, told BBC Mundo in August last year that the new “exchange crisis” was mainly a consequence of the depletion of international reserves and the increase in bolivars that They were put into circulation by the authorities in response to the social demands of the workers.
Some Venezuelans say that even prices in dollars are affected by inflation that is increasing more and more.
“fair wages”
Carmen Teresa Márquez, president of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers, assures that her union has taken to the streets because it does not feel valued, but also “for the freedom and democracy of Venezuela.”
“We have been protesting since December, demanding fair wages for workers from the government. We cannot continue living with US$20 per month when the basic basket is 500 bolivars (US$23),” the 68-year-old teacher told BBC Mundo.
She says she subsists thanks to the remittances her daughter sends her from abroad, but many of her colleagues work as cleaners in family homes or bake bread and cakes.
The unionist points out that in the last protest that took place on January 23 – a date on which Venezuelans celebrate the return of democracy after the overthrow of Marcos Pérez Jiménez in 1958 – university professors, nurses and other workers from health, workers and public employees.
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Protest against the government of Nicolás Maduro in Maracaibo, the second largest city in Venezuela.
“The entire working class came out to protest and we will continue until the government complies with article 91 of the Constitution, which says that every worker has the right to a sufficient salary that allows them to live with dignity,” he adds.
The protests, which began weeks ago, are a sign of the discontent experienced by the most disadvantaged classes of Venezuela, which have benefited little from the recent economic rebound that the country experienced last year.
Venezuela is going through an economic and social crisis that caused the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to drop by more than 75% between 2013 and 2021 and pushed more than seven million Venezuelans to seek a better life abroad. but various sources affirm that the economy has returned to growth.
Economists attribute the economic upturn to the increase in oil production, the de facto dollarization of the economy and the abandonment of the government policy of exchange and price controls, among other factors.
The Economic Commission for Latin America (Cepal) estimates that the Venezuelan economy will grow 10% in 2023, but the Central Bank of Venezuela assures that the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could reach 18.70%.
But many in the country do not feel any improvement.
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Thousands of workers took to the streets of Venezuela this January 23 demanding a leveling of wages in line with the increase in inflation and the high cost of the basic family basket.
laggards of the economy
Venezuelan political scientist Ricardo Sucre, a professor at the Central University of Venezuela, calls the current protests “redistributive struggles.”
“There are sectors of Venezuela, such as teachers and the public sector, who have been the losers of the so-called economic adjustment“He says in an interview with BBC Mundo.
“These are sectors that have not been dollarized, unlike much of the rest of the economy, and they are sectors that cannot be fully dollarized and feel that they cannot lead a dignified life,” he continues.
Sucre explains that last year’s economic growth has caused the income of some sectors to increase slightly.
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“Regarding salaries, all Venezuelans are unhappy, but we must remember that it is the fault of the sanctions,” said congressman Diosdado Cabello, president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, last week.
“Now in Venezuela there are groups that are little luxurieslike going to concerts, going to the beach, things that were unthinkable during the hyperinflation era,” he adds.
Many of the protesters who came out last Monday demanded, in fact, the dollarization of their income.
Sucre insists that the protests show the frustration felt by Venezuelans who “work in bolivars” in a partially dollarized economy.
“We have lost our fear”
Venezuelan union leaders continue their protests and some are exploring the possibility of support a national strike indefinite in February.
“We have set a date for the national strike for the month of February. First, a 24-hour national civic strike; later, 48 hours,” reported Eduardo Sánchez, president of the National Union of Workers of the Central University of Venezuela, in the media. local.
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Article 91 of the Constitution of Venezuela says that: “Every worker or worker has the right to a sufficient salary that allows him to live with dignity.”
“If they don’t listen to us, we will prepare the conditions for an indefinite general strike. But that will have its time.”
Carmen Márquez, from the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers, indicates that for now the government has ignored them.
“The only response that the government has given us has been to remove the collectives, the armed civil society that they have, so that they attack the people and the working class. But we have already lost our fear, the only thing we want is to live with dignity “.
The teacher Belkis Bolívar assures that will continue on the streets until the government listens to her.
“I will continue until they meet with our federation representatives,” he says, before adding that there is a “risk of the profession dying” if wages are not raised.
“People now earn more doing jobs outside of school than teaching. Schools are going to run out of teachers.”
She says that the national strike would be the last resourcebut doesn’t rule it out.
“It is the strongest weapon that the Labor Law gives us and we cannot exhaust our greatest weapon against a government that could simply continue to ignore us.”
