ReturnStreet Vendors are being deceived by authorities in Caracas By Yolanda Wundheiler, Venezuelan correspondent Beun Dia Prosie 65, newsletter of CSI ORIT for the Informal Economy
Several thousand street vendors from Sabana Grande, Caracus, Ecuador who were not counted in an official census by the Libertador municipality now have no means to earn a living. For street vendors it seems that the municipality is trying to provide a solution to the relocation of streets vendors by completely ignoring the people affected.
Firstly, the census taken by the mayor’s office of Liberatador municipality revealed that there are 2 900 informal vendors. According to data provided by the street vendors, the number is over 5 000, leaving more than 2 000 informal economy workers out of the relocation plan.
Secondly, of the 2 900 street vendors who were identified by the census, the Mayor’s Office carried out a purge, that resulted in the exclusion of 47 minors, 98 illegal immigrants, 62 senior citizens and 21 disabled people. The Municipality’s explanation is that senior citizens will receive a special pension and disabled people will be employed at the Municipality. SINTRAINOR General Secretary, José Chaurán, says these numbers don’t do justice to the truth. “It is impossible to have found minors and illegal immigrants, as being of age and Venezuelan nationality were two compulsory requirements for the census”. After the census, the Mayor’s Office only met with them once so that they could check whether the list of names which they had compiled corresponded with those of people affiliated to their organisations. Chaurán says no-one was rejected by the union, but when he read the list again two weeks later fewer people were listed.
Thirdly, after 67 days of waiting and 13 postponements of the public draw for stalls, only 1 550 persons were awarded a place, leaving around 3500 street vendors without an opportunity to work and earn a livelihood. With the possibility that workers in the informal economy who were excluded may begin to mobilise with the object of reclaiming their right to work, the Mayor’s Office has threatened to apply the law to those street vendors who protest or who try to erect their stalls once again in the boulevard of the Sabana Grande. Chaurán, representing the excluded workers, said that it is very unfair that the workers have to confront the municipal apparatus. Street vendors are asking why the Mayor does not want real and structural solutions to the problem of the street vendors. Why does he not make the laws more flexible and facilitate the process of their formalisation within the economy?