Between Catastrophe and Indifference

We Venezuelans are going through one of the bitterest and darkest moments in recent history. Nature, unleashed in all its fury, has brought death, destruction, and devastation, especially to the inhabitants of La Guaira and the Capital District. Alongside the tremendous force of nature, several factors have made the consequences of the seismic movements even more severe. The thousands of deaths, the many people still missing, and the destruction of countless homes have exposed construction failures and the disregard for warnings that seismology experts have been issuing for decades. Excessive greed for profit and the pursuit of quick financial gains by investors were placed above the protection of human life. Likewise, corruption within the relevant state institutions became evident through the irregular granting of housing permits.

However, what we have all witnessed with astonishment, sorrow, and indignation has been the callous and inhumane attitude, the delays, and the inaction shown by government institutions—not to mention the State as a whole. At the most critical moments—and even nearly a month after the earthquakes, the emergency persists—the government authorities, the Armed Forces, and Civil Protection agencies, among others, were conspicuous by their absence. These were precisely the institutions responsible for acting swiftly, skillfully, and with the necessary equipment to save lives. The people themselves assumed—and continue to assume—the rescue of survivors and the care of victims and displaced families without the necessary conditions or tools. The participation of rescue teams, together with the generous solidarity of other nations, helped mitigate the collapse of a government that ultimately became an obstacle to the urgent action demanded by the magnitude of the disaster.

We, the workers, trade unionists, and professional associations organized within the National Committee of Workers in Struggle (CNC-TL), have temporarily paused our struggles for the defense of labor rights in order to support rescue efforts, emergency assistance, and acts of solidarity. We have contributed at collection centers, assisted displaced families, and accompanied those facing such overwhelming devastation. We cannot fail to mention that many of our own comrades have suffered directly from this catastrophe, enduring the loss of family members and the destruction of their homes.

Nevertheless, it is now our responsibility to intensify our actions in defense of wages, pensions, social security, and occupational health conditions. These efforts are directly linked to the struggle for life and for the reconstruction of our society—not only to confront the devastation caused by the earthquakes, but also to face the destruction of our industries, our educational system, and public healthcare, as well as the deterioration of essential public services such as water, electricity, and transportation.

The process of rebuilding our social life necessarily requires confronting the harmful intentions of investors—both domestic and foreign—who seek to ensure that workers continue to bear the greatest sacrifices resulting from the crisis. Under the pretext of the humanitarian emergency, they seek to legitimize the disappearance of wages and the loss of already weakened rights to social security, collective bargaining, trade union freedom, and pensions adjusted in accordance with constitutional and legal standards.

To this tragedy caused by the uncontrollable forces of nature is added the worsening of our economic and social problems: the relentless rise in the cost of living, the progressive loss of purchasing power, and the virtual collapse of the public healthcare system. As if this were not enough, the business sector, in close alliance with this anti-popular government, intends to exploit this difficult situation in order to amend the laws that protect labor.

Finally, though no less importantly, we continue to endure a government that, in addition to lacking constitutional legitimacy, legal legitimacy, and popular support, has shamefully surrendered our sovereignty to the designs of a foreign government that defends only its own economic interests and has no interest whatsoever in opening the path toward the democratic change and freedom so urgently demanded by our people.

Never has the popular saying been more accurate than it is today:

"Only the people can save the people."

Therefore, we call upon all the people—workers, peasants, professionals, university communities, pensioners, and retirees—to strengthen the unity and solidarity demonstrated throughout these terrible circumstances. Let us consolidate our organizations of struggle: trade unions, professional associations, professional councils, academies, student federations, and community councils.

Let us make solidarity a permanent and organized practice to confront together the economic, social, and cultural calamities before us.

We fight for life!

Wages, democracy, and freedom!

National Committee of Workers in Struggle

Caracas, July 23, 2026