– Europe Press / Contact / Jimmy Villalta – Archive
Madrid, November 30 (European Press) –
Venezuelan police on Saturday arrested José Elias Torres, the secretary-general in charge of the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV), the main union in the South American country, according to human rights organizations.
The Venezuelan Observatory for Freedom of Trade Unions released a recording from a security camera in which agents take someone away, although it is not possible to determine if it is Torres.
“In this video, you can see that the top union leader of the country’s historic trade union is being led away in handcuffs. José Elias Torres is a delegate to the ILO and is actively involved in all cases that promote social dialogue,” OVLS highlighted on his X account.
Opposition-linked Venezuelan media reported that agents entered his apartment and arrested Torres in a procedure that, according to the Observatory, lacks the grounds to justify depriving a recognized union leader for defending workers’ rights. “There is no reason to arrest a union leader committed to defending the rights of the working class,” he said.
CTV sources consider the arrest to be a deterrent message against union work, especially in a context where there are demands to improve working conditions, wages, and welfare.
The head of CTV is the president of the federation, Carlos Ortega, who had to leave the country “forcibly,” according to Torres himself.
The Venezuelan NGO “Provia” called for Torres’ release and denounced “the increasing closure of civic space and obstacles to the right to association and unionization.” In addition, he noted that there are “dozens” of detained and prosecuted union leaders and more than 3,000 labor movement leaders who have been victims of threats and harassment under Nicolás Maduro’s government.