Revolutionary socialists killed in Venezuela
Richard Gallardo, Luis Hernández and Carlos Requena, members of the Unidad Socialista de Izquierda (USI, United Socialist Left) and of the UNT trade union federation in Venezuela have been killed.
According to reports on the Aporrea website, the three men were killed in the early hours of this morning. The day before they had been supporting workers at the Alpina firm in the state of Aragua. Earlier this week the men were campaigning in the local elections, standing as socialist candidates.
Gallardo, Hernández were long-time revolutionary socialists, and together with Requena were also associated with the rank and file current C-CURA, led by Orlando Chirino. There are reports of assemblies of workers discussing strike action in protest at the killings, and calling for a transparent investigation into the deaths.
We salute these brave socialist fighters and call for a labour movement investigation into the killings.
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More information on the killings
The socialists were shot by an assassin on a motorbike on their way home from political work. They had been supporting 400 workers at a Colombian-owned food processing company, Alpina.
The day before the killings, they had denounced the repression of the Alpina workers by Aragua state police. The outgoing opposition governor Didalco Bolivar has frequently deployed police against workers in disputes. Bolivar was an ally of Chavez until last year, when he defected to the right-wing opposition during the constitutional referendum.
There is also speculation that the attack was carried out by paramilitaries hired by the Colombian firm. Drive-by shootings on motorbikes, known as sicariato, are a method of assassination commonly used against trade unionists and social movement activists in Colombia.