On July 9, workers took over a Pepsi-Cola bottling plant in Villa de Cura, south-west of Caracas. The workers charged that the company, part of Venezuela's Grupo Polar, plans to close the plant and lay-off hundreds of employees in an effort to eliminate their militant union.

Villa de Cura mayor Estefano Magione backed the workers, saying that the company was behind on paying local taxes and had a record of pollution and of stealing water from the municipality.

Although the company claims to be in an economic crisis, Magione charged that management threw out 600,000 cases of soft drinks last December during a nationwide business strike against Venezuela's left-wing president Hugo Chavez. The workers seized the plant at the time to keep the owners from shutting it down.

From Green Left Weekly, July 23, 2003.
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