CARACAS, (Reuters) – When Venezuelan customs worker Jose Antonio Arriaga signed a petition seeking a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro, he suspected it could cost him his job.
His fears were confirmed last month when he received a letter notifying him that he had been fired from by the government tax and customs agency known as Seniat after 21 years and had also been stripped of his retirement benefits.
“Their goal is to remove those who are manifestly opposed to them,” Arriaga, 53, said in an interview last week, after he traveled to Caracas from the southern city of Puerto Ordaz to describe his situation to members of the opposition-led parliament.
Hundreds of public employees say they have been sacked in recent days for signing in favor of the recall against Maduro, according to interviews, a list tallied by a human rights organization and local media reports.
Such dismissals appear to violate a 2015 presidential decree prohibiting employers from firing workers until 2019.
