A public-sector labor strike summoned by Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido failed to gain any visible traction today amid ongoing scattered clashes between government security forces and protesters.
Guaido, who is recognized as Venezuela's interim president by most western governments, called for the escalating strike at two carefully staged appearances at yesterday's 1 May opposition demonstrations in Caracas. The street rallies followed a short-lived military uprising on 30 April that Guaido and his political mentor Leopoldo Lopez contend is the start of a final push to oust President Nicolas Maduro. At least four deaths have been reported in clashes this week.
The strike was a risky call for the opposition. The few employees who still show up for work at government ministries and other state entities mainly stayed at their posts amid threats of job losses and detentions.
Venezuela's economic crisis, the collapse of public transportation and the lingering impact of a multiple lengthy blackouts in March and early April have virtually shut down activities in the public sector. During the worst of the blackouts, the government closed its offices and then ordered them open for restricted hours. The breakdown of computers, telecommunications, office equipment and even elevators means workers struggle to carry out day-to-day duties.
Up to 90pc of public buses are out of service because of a lack of parts such as batteries and tires. Motor fuel is scarce.
Many government workers only show up two or three days a week, and spend more time looking for food, medicine and other essentials than worrying about jobs where their government employers frequently miss paydays, a senior health sector union official tells Argus.
"There aren't enough public workers at their jobs to carry out an effective strike," an oil union official said, adding that oil workers will not participate in any walkout because they are needed to keep crippled state-owned PdV alive until a new government takes over. A PdV official told Argus that people are afraid of losing their job or even landing behind bars for dissidence.
Opposition leader and former political prisoner Leopoldo Lopez, currently holed up as a "guest" in the Spanish ambassador's residence, appeared publicly for the first time this afternoon since the brief military uprising erupted at dawn on 30 April. He had been under house arrest for two years, following three years in the Ramo Verde military prison, until he escaped to call for the military revolt. He is now facing a new arrest warrant.
In remarks to reporters gathered at the Spanish residence, Lopez said the uprising showed "cracks that will widen until the dam breaks" on Maduro. He said the revolt is the "beginning of a process" to force him out. "We don't want to impose a dictatorship or de facto government here," Lopez said. "We want Venezuelans to choose in an election who will lead Venezuela."
He added that he held meetings and discussions with senior military and police officials during April, when he was still under house arrest, to discuss the need to force the Maduro government to relinquish power.
Guaido did not appear in public today.
In a nationally aired broadcast at dawn today, Maduro marched with the heads of the armed forces and a contingent of young unarmed soldiers in the Fort Tiuna military compound in Caracas, in a ceremony officially described as an affirmation of military loyalty.
