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Venezuelan state worker becomes voice against voter coercion
Source: Associated Press
Venezuelan state worker becomes voice against voter coercion
By MAEVA BAMBUCK
16 minutes ago
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Javier Hernandez knew he was going to be fired.
Everyone who worked with him in a state-run cement factory was told to vote last month in an election to choose delegates for a new constitutional assembly granting nearly unlimited powers to Venezuela’s ruling socialist party. With the opposition boycotting the vote, virtually all the candidates were government supporters. A vote was tantamount to a show of support for President Nicolas Maduro and his allies.
Resentful of what he saw as a rigged process, Hernandez flouted his supervisors’ order and didn’t vote. Last Wednesday, he was taken outside the building and informed that he was fired.
Now he has become a rare public voice speaking out against a phenomenon that government critics say was widespread in last month’s vote — Venezuelans were threatened with loss of their public benefits or state jobs if they didn’t participate.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/68ba256d98b04beab8f1d04ec7c33acb/Venezuelan-state-worker-becomes-voice-against-voter-coercion
By MAEVA BAMBUCK
16 minutes ago
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Javier Hernandez knew he was going to be fired.
Everyone who worked with him in a state-run cement factory was told to vote last month in an election to choose delegates for a new constitutional assembly granting nearly unlimited powers to Venezuela’s ruling socialist party. With the opposition boycotting the vote, virtually all the candidates were government supporters. A vote was tantamount to a show of support for President Nicolas Maduro and his allies.
Resentful of what he saw as a rigged process, Hernandez flouted his supervisors’ order and didn’t vote. Last Wednesday, he was taken outside the building and informed that he was fired.
Now he has become a rare public voice speaking out against a phenomenon that government critics say was widespread in last month’s vote — Venezuelans were threatened with loss of their public benefits or state jobs if they didn’t participate.
-snip-[/font]
Read more: https://apnews.com/68ba256d98b04beab8f1d04ec7c33acb/Venezuelan-state-worker-becomes-voice-against-voter-coercion