By Mircely Guanipa, Deisy Buitrago and Marianna Parraga
CARACAS/MARACAY, Venezuela (Reuters) – More than a hundred employees at Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, plus others in the oil ministry and parts of the public sector, have been forced to resign since last month’s disputed elections over their political views. unions said.
The government says President Nicolas Maduro won a third term in the July 28 elections, but the opposition says partial votes indicate its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won a resounding victory.
Top PDVSA executives have instructed administrative and operational staff to attend rallies supporting Maduro and have monitored their social media accounts, four company sources and a union leader said.
Employees who did not support Maduro or dispute the official voting results are being pushed out, they said.
“They call you to HR, sit you down and give you a resignation letter to sign,” said a source familiar with the situation.
The Venezuelan Oil Ministry and PDVSA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The situation could further exacerbate a chronic staffing problem at PDVSA, where a lack of qualified personnel has affected many aspects of the company’s operations. Oil production has fallen to a fraction of what it was a decade ago.
At PDVSA’s headquarters in Caracas, approximately 100 administrative employees have been dismissed since the elections, according to two sources. More than 30 others at PDVSA’s eastern division, responsible for most of Venezuela’s crude production, have been forced to resign, the country’s largest oil union said in a statement over the weekend.
“This is political retaliation against countless workers who showed themselves against Maduro during the most recent election process,” union leader Jose Bodas said in the statement.
PDVSA has about 90,000 employees, according to figures from CEO Pedro Tellechea this year.
Other public entities have launched a similar crackdown, including several ministries, state energy company Corpoelec, state industrial conglomerates and petrochemical company Pequiven, Caracas’ metro system and public media, according to Bodas, other unions and sources from those entities.
At least eight oil ministry employees have been deported for political reasons, a source close to the matter said.
Reuters could not immediately determine how many government workers have left their jobs in the three weeks since the election.
“They argue about the smallest things, the status of social media, a message in your profile, a quote against the government. They take a screenshot and pass it on to human resources,” said a refinery employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.
Western countries and international organizations, including the United Nations, have called on the Venezuelan government to release a full tally of votes from last month and stop persecution, after anti-Maduro protests left 23 dead and more than 2,400 arrests have resulted.
