Maduro – we must defend the rights gained by Venezuelans under Chavez

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced a 50 percent increase in the minimum wage Sunday, effective from July 1, with the monthly minimum wage increasing from 65,021 to 97,531 bolivars.

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The salary increase will include public workers, teachers, doctors, firefighters, police officers and military personnel, among others. The president also raised the salary scales of other public administration workers in addition to an increase in food allowances, which went from 15 to 17 Tax Units.

Through the National Constituent Assembly, the president will also propose a law that allows for the regulation of prices and the application of legal action against speculators, stressing the importance of the fight against speculation and the need for legislation to control prices to put an end to the right-wing economic war that the Venezuelan people suffer.

At a commemorative event for the 14th anniversary of the Robinson Mission — Venezuela’s literacy and primary education program — Maduro said, “We need the constituent assembly to protect and create useful and stable jobs for the country and the Venezuelan family.”

Maduro also urged people to be on alert for more coup plots. “I want to alert the people because the conditions are very different, the revolution then was on the defensive without social policies. Today is very different because since Commandante (Hugo) Chavez founded the missions, the people have had to defend them. Unlike in 2002, when the people defended a dream, today we defend a reality: the great missions,” he added.

In a live radio and television broadcast, Maduro recalled that during the economic subversion of 2002, the opposition not only hid all essential products but also sabotaged the distribution of domestic gas, among other types of gas.