Labour Union accuses Maduro of foul play

A senior representative of the Venezuelan oil workers' union has accused the government of political persecution, the AFP reports, citing an interview with the official who has since left Venezuela. "The idea is to neutralize the oil union movement by force," Ivan Freites, director of the Venezuelan Oil Workers' Federation, told AFP's Esteban Rojas. According to Freites and other sources, the Maduro regime is targeting union leaders in an attempt to cover up its responsibility for the crisis that is plaguing the country's vital oil industry. Earlier this month, Maduro accused the CIA and the U.S. National Security Agency for corrupting hundreds of workers in the oil industry, including former energy minister and Venezuelan representative at the UN, Rafael Ramirez. "There are thousands of cases of infiltration into the oil industry by the US Embassy here in Venezuela. If they bribed the oil industry chief, corrupted him, lured away \[former Energy Secretary and former UN representative\] Rafael Ramirez, what can you then think about the current level of infiltration into the oil industry? " Maduro said during a press conference he posted on Twitter. In November, the Venezuelan Military Intelligence and National Intelligence Service arrested one active and one retired worker and charged the latter with terrorism. The arrest followed an explosion at the Amuay Refinery, which has a capacity of 645,000 bpd. Maduro claimed the explosion was the result of a terrorist attack. However, critics of the regime argue that the explosion resulted from an unsuccessful attempt to restart the refinery in response to the severe fuel shortage that has gripped Venezuela for months. According to the AFP report, these arrests could be part of crackdown on oil industry dissidents, who are likely to be numerous after the government failed to renew a collective agreement with oil workers protecting their rights and working conditions.