During an event for Labor Day broadcast on radio and television, the so-called “first combatant” of Venezuela and wife of the dictator Nicolás Maduro, Cilia Floreslived an embarrassing moment that did not go unnoticed by the cameras and the audience present at the scene.
While praising the economic policies implemented by the dictatorship that, according to her, are “designed to improve the social well-being of the Venezuelan population,” Flores experienced an incident with her dentures.
The uncomfortable episode captured everyone’s attention when, in the middle of his speech, he had to stop abruptly, covering his mouth, to later clarify, trying to minimize the moment, that he was “eating gum.” The statement generated reactions among attendees and observers.
During his speech where he magnified the increase in the “integral minimum income” equivalent to 3.5 dollars per monthannounced by Maduro, Cilia Flores wanted to send a “message of strength and unity” to the country’s workers who took to the streets this Wednesday to demand better wages.
“We are seeing, as always, the president doing his best, we see how he always thinks about his own.”Flores stated.
Maduro, present at the event, tried to minimize the situation by saying: “Cilita bit herself, she is chewing gum”trying to return humor and normality to the situation.
Despite the incident, Flores’ speech resumed without further setbacks, focusing on highlighting “the unity” between the regime and the Venezuelan people.
Maduro, picking up the thread, emphasized his wife’s idea by expressing: “Correct, we are one of you.”
The Chavista regime proposed this Wednesday to create a law that establishes a monthly contribution from businessmens -calculated according to their net income- aimed at improving the income of pensioners, who receive about 3.5 dollars at the official exchange rate.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s main opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), considered “pyrrhic” and a “mockery” the increase announced by the Caribbean dictatorship of an income made up of two bonuses that do not generate labor liabilities.
Through X, the alliance expressed to the workers its “unwavering commitment” to demanding a fair wage and “leave behind Nicolás Maduro’s disastrous policy of increasingly impoverishing the Venezuelan family“, which has been “evident” this Wednesday, with “a pyrrhic announcement regarding salaries, which is a new mockery of the worker’s pocket.”
On the other hand, the PUD called on workers to organize so that on July 28, when the presidential elections will be held, political change can be “materialized,” the “main desire of the vast majority of the Venezuelan people.” and “the decisive step to the recovery of the country’s economy and wages.”
This Wednesday, hundreds of workers mobilized in Caracas and several regions to demand, among other demands, a minimum wage equivalent to the cost of the basic food basket, higher than $550 a month for a family of five, according to independent estimates. .
According to a preliminary balance from the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict (OVCS), during the day there were 36 protests in 22 of the 23 states of the country, where the main demand was a “salary increase and not bonuses.”
Public workers and opposition leaders also rejected Maduro’s announcements through messages on X.
Since March 2022, the minimum wage and pension have remained at 130 bolivars per month, which at that time, at the official exchange rate, was about 30 dollars, and today 3.5 dollars, which means that they have been reduced by 88%. in its equivalent in the US currency, used as a reference to set prices in Venezuela.
(With information from EFE)
