Venezuelan Government to Mediate in Gold Mine Labor Conflict

The Venezuelan government announced on Tuesday that it will mediate between workers and the management of the U.S. mining company Hecla in a dispute over working conditions that has seen periodic work stoppages at the Isadora gold mine in the southeast of Bolivar state since late March. The dispute flared up amidst a renewed wave of nationalizations this year in the cement and steel sectors. In the case of the Sidor steel plant Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez intervened directly to nationalize the company on April 9 after a long struggle by workers there. The workers at the Isadora mine are calling for the operation to be nationalized due to “the constant violations of human rights being carried out by the management of this company.”