Fight Back News Service
http://www.fightbacknews.org
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Interview with Pedro Eusse
Key Leader of Venezuelan Workers Movement
Pedro Eusse is the Secretary General of the Food and
Beverage Union, and the Secretary General of the
United Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CUTV).
The United Confederation of Venezuelan Workers is
currently the country's main trade union federation
and plays an important role in defending the
patriotic, national democratic government headed by
Hugo Chavez.
Pedro Eusse has been a long time labor organizer and
an active participant in the process of democratizing
the labor movement in Venezuela. In spite of being the
Secretary General of the CUTV, Eusse is still directly
involved in the struggle for workers' rights and the
improvement of Venezuelan worker’s benefits.
Fight Back!: Tell us about the Venezuelan workers'
movement, the unions and the Central Unitaria de
Trabajadores de Venezuela (CUTV), or United Workers'
Confederation of Venezuela. How has the situation
changed since the national democratic movement has
elected President Chavez on two occasions?
Pedro Eusse: Actually, the Venezuelan workers reject
the coup leaders and counterrevolutionaries of the
Venezuelan Confederation of Workers (CTV). The CTV has
turned their back on the workers for the past forty
years and they work in the service of the interests of
capital and corrupt governments of the oligarchy.
During the last four years, fifty unions at the base
have abandoned the CTV and new unions that form are
not entering into the CTV. In making change, we in the
progressive union sectors are helping the Bolivarian
Revolution; we make it stronger, as is the case of our
Confederation, the CUTV, and also appearing this year,
a new union confederation named National Union of
Workers (UNT) with whom we hold fraternal relations.
In Venezuela, a declared struggle of the classes has
developed in the framework of the democratic process
of national liberation that is led by President
Chavez. The most reactionary sectors of the rich, just
about all the U.S. corporations, attack the government
and the working class, closing businesses, throwing
their workers into the streets, and every time this
provokes evermore a fight back response and organizing
by the workers.
Fight Back!: George Bush and the U.S. government
supported the coup de etat against President Chavez on
April 11, 2002. The coup failed miserably, because of
people power in the streets and the loyalty of the
Venezuelan armed forces who support the democratic
process. What did the unions do during the failed
coup attempt by the reactionaries?
Pedro Eusse: I must admit that the unions did not have
time to react after the coup in April 2002. The coup
went from Thursday, April 11, at midnight until
Saturday, the 13th; in the early hours of the morning
it was thoroughly defeated by the demolishing action
of the people and the armed forces. Nevertheless,
between the 12th and 13th of April, the leaders of the
Bolivarian and progressive unions, we were
coordinating in a clandestine manner the organization
of a general strike against the coup and for the
restitution of democracy.
Fight Back!: In the U.S. press, it appears that the
leaders of the unions, especially the oil workers, are
opposed to President Chavez. The news media call him a
dictator and accuse him of interfering in the
democratic process of the unions. What is the story?
Pedro Eusse: The truth is that the unions in general
have not acted against President Chavez. On the
contrary, the majority have actively opposed the coup
attempts and the criminal actions of the rightist
counterrevolutionaries. In the case of the oil workers
union, it is clear that some reactionary officials of
this union work in the opposition, but for years and
years they are corrupt, they cannot count on the
support of the workers. The union officials are
serving under patronage, such as Carlos Ortega, of the
CTV, accusing Chavez of simply being a dictator
because he refuses to kneel in front of big capital,
nor is Chavez complacent with the corrupt politics of
the right. They are the true dictators that prohibit
the democracy of union organizations. What has already
happened, is that in these few years of the
revolutionary process in Venezuela, is that all of
society is democratizing, including the unions, and
the significance is that the workers, they are the
protagonists of the destiny of their union
organizations. The workers are converting them into
instruments of struggle, that the unions survive not
for the mean interests of the union officials of the
right who only defend their privileges and the power
of the bosses with huge capital.
Fight Back!: Eight months after the failed coup, the
rich attempted to overthrow Chavez again. The
officials of the oil workers union joined with the
bosses of the corporations to paralyze industry, to
sabotage oil production, throwing the workers out of
their jobs. Why did some union officials unite with
the bosses? What did the CUTV do during this period?
Pedro Eusse: Some phony union leaders of the CTV, such
as the fugitive from justice, Carlos Ortega, joined
the bosses of the Chamber of Commerce and the highest
management of the oil industry, of course with the
help of the big media outlets, they called for a
national work stoppage and they carried out acts of
sabotage to overthrow Chavez. As explained before,
these phony union officials of the CTV are militants
for the right, compromised with the interests of big
capital, submissive to yankee imperialism, who built
up power and privileges during the forty years of
oligarchic governments. Now they want to sack Chavez
from power and revoke the Bolivarian Constitution,
against the popular majority will, to make Venezuela
the paradise of neo-liberalism where the rich are
always richer and the poor are always poorer. During
the lockout and the sabotage of the oil industry, the
CUTV developed a campaign to denounce the intentions
of the counterrevolution and we organized to join
together many of our union affiliates for actions, to
put pressure on and cause the failure of bosses’ and
coupmakers’ lockout.
Fight Back!: What was the result of the bosses
lockout?
Pedro Eusse: The criminal action of the bosses and the
oil industry management provoked great economic
difficulties for the country, affecting the standard
of living of the people. Of course they did not
achieve their anti-patriotic purpose of throwing out
Chavez, but they did harm the major part of the
population. The oil industry lost on the order of $7.6
billion during the two-month lock out, the gross
domestic product was falling to levels never before
seen, and unemployment was 11% and rose to 20%. The
revolutionary government sought to diminish this
alarming pattern by resorting to social investments -
in education, health, housing, promotion of
employment, etc. Furthermore, in response to the lock
out and the sabotage of the right, the workers’
movement and popular movement strengthened, thus
helping the revolution.
Fight Back!: In the U.S. we have a president chosen by
the Supreme Court following a dirty election process
in Florida, the state where Bush’s brother is
governor. In California, the Republican Party
initiated a recall referendum, trying to throw out the
governor. President Chavez may face a referendum
called by the reactionary opposition and supported by
the rich and U.S. corporations. How will the unions in
Venezuela respond to this?
Pedro Eusse: The progressive and revolutionary union
movement defends the validity of the Bolivarian
Constitution and the process of change, in all fields.
The reactionary opposition is putting across a recall
referendum, but does not have popular support for
getting rid of Chavez, they know this, and for this
reason we believe that in reality, they are not
interested in achieving the referendum. This
opposition does not care about democracy as has
already been demonstrated. For this reason, the union
organizations that support the Bolivarian revolution
are joining with the popular movement. We are on guard
because we know that behind a recall referendum the
opposition is hiding a new plan for destabilization
and subversion by the very, very rich and the yankee
imperialism, that already begins to show itself in
violent acts such as the bomb thrown against the
Palace of Miraflores [the government palace in
Caracas] just a few days ago.
Fight Back!: There is some evidence that the AFL-CIO
helped those union officials that joined the
Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce in plotting the failed
coup. How can you establish a new relationship between
the AFL-CIO and the Venezuelan union movement that
benefits the workers of both Venezuela and the U.S.?
Pedro Eusse: It was public knowledge that, shortly
before the coup, the CTV received from a section of
the Center for International Solidarity of the AFL-CIO
a large sum of money. Thousands of dollars that were
used for anti-democratic actions resulting in the CTV
joining with industry management. But not only this,
the representation of the AFL-CIO in the OIT, or
International Workers’ Organization already pled in
favor of the CTV and against the government of Chavez
in the way stated earlier. We are worried that this
situation continues to persist. Despite this, the
union officials of CTV openly participated in the
planning and execution of the coup against the only
government (apart from Cuba) that is opposed to the
Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA). Besides,
the hierarchy of the CTV, in front of the TV cameras,
supported the dictator Carmona Estanga, who, in less
than 48 hours, abandoned without effect the
constitution that the Venezuelan people approved in a
democratic consultation in 1999. It is necessary that
the workers and the democratic forces of U.S. trade
unionism demand an explanation from the leadership of
the AFL-CIO concerning their relationship with the
coup-makers of the CTV.
Fight Back!: What is your personal role in the
national democratic process that is making such
tremendous changes in Venezuelan society?
Pedro Eusse: Personally, I am interested in
contributing to the development of a workers’ movement
that is more conscious, organized, united and strong,
that allows us to defend the Revolution, the
Revolution that the reactionary opposition is
threatening and lying in wait for, above all of this
is yankee imperialism, and to win others over so the
process orients itself to build a distinct society
from the inhuman capitalist society, under the
fundamental direction of the working class. Also I
understand that international solidarity of the
peoples of countries is indispensable and I think that
I should work to promote and develop this.
Fight Back!: What can U.S. unions and solidarity
activists do to help the unions and the national
democratic revolution of Venezuela?
Pedro Eusse: In the first place, you have to know and
defend the truth of the facts in Venezuela, to defeat
the lies that the big imperialist media communication
outlets put forward. The second thing is that it is
necessary to raise up a loud and massive opposition to
the interference of the U.S. government in the
political affairs of Venezuela. This is the way I
think the solidarity with our revolution ought to be
organized - to function in a permanent way and
coordinated at the level of the whole U.S. - and,
above all, that you make it felt with force.
