At 9:30 pm, after 155 hours of fasting, students who had been on hunger strike since last week outside of OAS headquarters in Caracas and in various other cities around Venezuela decided to suspend activity as they had achieved their objectives. Roxana Rojas, a student from Monagas, was responsible for making the announcement. After thanking the Venezuelan people for their support and the more than 200 students who participated in the strike, she said that with the protest had successfully led to the release of student leader Julio César Rivas; also, representatives of the Inter-American Human Rights (IACHR) reaffirmed their intention to visit Venezuela to assess the political prisoner situation and commit to request information on them from the government. In what she called a "marathon for freedom and democracy," Rojas said it was a good sign that the IACHR extended an invitation to a delegation from the student movement to present their complaints to OAS headquarters in Washington and considered as a success the request yesterday from OAS secretary general José Miguel Insulza that Venezuela allow an OAS visit to the country. Through yesterday, 73 youths were registered in Caracas, 25 in the city of Valencia, 12 in Anzoátegui state, 7 in Nueva Esparta, 10 students outside the Ombudsman's Office in Táchira, 12 in Maracaibo, 5 in Barquisimeto, 18 in the city of Maracay and 6 in Mérida.
OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza spoke on Wednesday of his concern for students on hunger strike and urged the government in Caracas to authorize the visit of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights IACHR to the country. "I'm concerned. How would 160 young people at OAS headquarters in Caracas not concern me," Insulza said to the EFE news agency. Insulza said yesterday that it "would be very nice if " the IACHR were to go to Venezuela and that he has discussed it with officials, but said that the Commission has asked for entry on several occasions over the years only to be rejected by President Chávez. He reiterated that "unfortunately, the IACHR (...) can not go to a country without an invitation or authorization." In this regard, he presented another option to the students. "Let them come. Let a delegation come to Washington to talk with the IACHR, or to meet with staff. I'm sure they would be well received," he said.
About 36,000 workers will elect new directors of the Federation of Oil Workers of Venezuela (FUTPV) today, in an election delayed eight times and against the backdrop of industry protests, employee representatives told the AFP. These elections will allow the PDVSA workers to initiate the process of discussing collective bargaining agreements that expired in January this year. The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV, currently in power) called on workers to vote for the party candidate Wills Rangel, while the eight remaining candidates complained that there was "opportunism". The electoral campaign was conducted in a climate of labour conflicts that led to protests, hunger strikes and a clear rejection of the board of PDVSA, chaired by the Minister of Energy and Petroleum Rafael Ramírez. In July, Ramírez said that PDVSA would not negotiate a collective agreement with "enemies of the Bolivarian revolution" led by President Chávez.
Between 9 and 15 million legal and illegal weapons (pistols and revolvers) are in the hands of Venezuelan civilians, said the president of the Security and Defense Committee of the National Assembly, Juan José Mendoza. The revelation came during a press conference at the Federal Legislative Palace, where Mendoza gave details of the Arms Explosives and Ammunition Act, a regulation resulting from the merger of the laws of Disarmament and Arms and Explosives. "The fundamental idea behind this law is to disarm the population, limiting the weapons, ammunition and weapons delivery, this is the most useful thing to society". The current legislation dates from 1939, passed during the administration of General Eleazar López Contreras. Now, under the new legal instrument that will be addressed by parliament in the second session and that consists of more than 200 articles, a person is entitled to carry one weapon for self-defense and can buy 50 munitions per year.
The cost of family food basket for the month of September, according to the Center of Documentation and Social Analysis of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (Cendas-FVM), rose about 5% over August, reaching a cost of 1,853.19 strong bolivars. Statistics from the teachers' guild estimated 25.8% inflation in the last 12 months, diminishing the purchasing power and increasing the Basic Food Basket by more than 380 strong bolivars. The numbers indicate that the increase in the last month occurred for nine of the eleven major food items such as coffee, which rose 43.7%; roots and plants by 14.6%; fruits and vegetables by 7.5%; cereals and derived products by 5.7%; grains like beans, peas and lentils by 3.8%; meat and meat preparations by 2.6%; milk, cheese and eggs by 1%; seafood by 0.3%; and salsa and mayonnaise by 0.2%.
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