The Daily Journal — Retired workers of state-owned oil company PDVSA in Falcón state, western Venezuela, urgently called for an overhaul of the corporation’s healthcare system and warned that they could take their protests to the company’s headquarters in Caracas if management fails to address their healthcare and wage-related demands.
During a general assembly at Plaza del Obrero in Punto Fijo, retirees from the Paraguaná Refining Center (CRP)—one of the largest refining complexes in Latin America—issued a direct statement to PDVSA President Héctor Obregón. In the statement, they denounced poor healthcare conditions and what they described as the “poor performance” of the medical services available to them.
Rising Death Toll and Healthcare Hardships
Juan José Salazar Jurado, the retirees’ main spokesperson and coordinator for people with disabilities at the CRP, urged the leadership of the country’s main industry to uphold constitutional guarantees related to healthcare and to recognize the vulnerability facing beneficiaries and their families.
“I would like to call on PDVSA President Héctor Obregón respectfully. Health is important, as the Constitution establishes. You know the law better than I do. Now, Mr. President, put yourself in our shoes: every day, we lose between four and five retirees,” Salazar Jurado said during the gathering.
Protesters stated that inadequate medical coverage, shortages of essential medicines at facilities operated by the state company, and obstacles to emergency care have worsened the health conditions of hundreds of pensioners in Venezuela’s oil-producing region.
Mobilization Toward La Campiña
In response to the lack of institutional solutions in the regions, union leaders announced plans to organize a march to Caracas and hold a 48-hour vigil outside PDVSA’s headquarters in the La Campiña district. They noted, however, that organizers are still evaluating the event’s final date.
“I make this appeal responsibly: we are going to fill La Campiña, and we are going to hold a vigil, but we are not going to harm our industry. Rest assured, Mr. President, that we will not turn our backs on the industry we defended and continue to defend. However, we will not tolerate the discrimination affecting our retirees, surviving beneficiaries, and contractors who remain part of this institution,” the spokesperson said.
Outstanding Debts and Labor Liabilities
Alongside complaints about the collapse of the healthcare system, retirees also raised concerns about long-standing financial obligations that remain unresolved.
José Alvino, another representative of the PDVSA retirees’ association, called on company authorities to calculate and immediately pay the outstanding labor liabilities and settle the historical debt owed by the company to the pension fund accounts of its former employees.
