Outrageous sentence will not stop the workers' struggle

The National Conflict Committee of Workers in Struggle condemns and rejects the unjust and infamous sentence of sixteen (16) years in prison, issued this Tuesday, August 2, by Judge Grendy Alejandra Duque Carvajal against Alcides Bracho, Alonso Meléndez, Emilio Negrín, Néstor Astudillo, Reynaldo Cortés and Gabriel Blanco.

The six social activists, who were unjustly detained last July 2022 for their social and labour activism in favour of the human rights of all workers, did not commit any crime, but on orders from Miraflores, they were charged with the alleged crimes of association to commit a crime and conspiracy. The judge based her sentence on an anonymous counter-intelligence report, with no legal basis, and on Whaatsap messages illegally taken from some of the phones of these comrades.

No evidence of any crime was presented by the Attorney General's Office, an institution that has become a persecutor of union leaders and workers who fight for labour and human rights.

This injustice is not only against these six workers, it is also a danger against the whole society that exercises its right to protest. We call for its rejection.

We express our solidarity to the six unusually sentenced comrades, their families and close friends. We share their indignation and we will turn it into more struggle until we achieve the freedom of all political prisoners and the definitive freedom of Venezuela.

Caracas, 2 August 2023
The National Conflict Committee of Workers in Struggle