EC Papers September 2018

Venezuela Trip 16th – 21 st July 2018

GFTU here in the UK. The afternoon consisted of trying out the metro system which in

Venezuela is free of charge due to the financial stresses currently being experienced by the

country. The metro or cable car system in Caracas is elevated and goes over a working

class community in Caracas, previously people would have to walk 2 hours up and down

flights of stairs to get to and from work. The idea was proposed and actioned in December

2009 and there are now 5 stations in the city of Caracas but only 3 are in working order. The

cable cars led us to our next stop, a concert performed by the children in the working class

town who were celebrating their final day of the school year. the school was situated in one

of the favelas and the school had students from the ages of 5 years old to 16. There

included dancing, singing and a full orchestra. Children from this specific town are dubbed

as some of the best percussionists in the country.

We finished up the day in the hotel lobby by having a meeting with the Bolivian Petroleum

Young Workers regional committee, which was of particular interest to Ed due to the nature

of his work. We discussed how the oil industry worked and the importance of the petroleum

industry for a country like Venezuela. The regional committee is organised across the

country and Chavez, the previous president combined all the different trade unions into one

federation. It allows them a clear pathway to produce recommendations to improve the

company and their working environment.

Our second day started nice and early with a trip across the city to a previous military base

which had been set up as a government facility to manufacture electronics for students from

primary school to higher education who couldn’t afford them. T he factory designed tablets

and mini laptops using Portuguese and Chinese technology. Interestingly we were told that

no trees were harmed when creating the building and the facility was designed around the

trees. Windows make use of natural light which leads to less electricity being used The

facility is not connected to public electricity network, uses its own electricity and is 700

square metres in size. Inside the factory, it was high-tech and employed over 100 people.

We were given a tour of the assembly line in action, from start to finish. It gave us the ability

to see how everything was built and quality checked. At the end we were able to see the

previous laptops they have built and the differences in what they are building for students

today. This experience was a breath of fresh air! To be able to see that even with outside

sanctions the government still believe in certain socialist principles such as supplying

important equipment to people who can’t afford them. After this we met with one of the Vice

Ministers for European Solidarity, Marco Garcia. We discussed the solidarity brigades that

have been organised and are ongoing. There are 30 organisation involved, the delegates

tour 6 or 7 different states in Venezuela and it allows them to gain and share experience. It is

tied in with Venezuela’s CLAP project, which is is the local committee of distribution and