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The general secretary of Sitraibi, Ramón Ramírez Duarte, confirmed to Nación Media that on May 4 they held a general assembly, after 5 years without activity in the union organization, to designate the questioned director of Social Responsibility of the hydroelectric plant, Gerardo Soria, as the new general secretary of the union, but they still do not communicate, therefore, he cannot assume; however, they already secure the position. Asked why they place a person in such a sensitive role without being able to exercise it, the leader Ramírez replied: “We are going to communicate, why are we going to hurry?” Meanwhile, the aforementioned union is facing massive resignations and those who desert suffer persecution, they speak of a witch hunt in Itaipu.

Source: By Santiago Rodríguez [email protected]

Months after the change of State authorities, the questioned director of Social Responsibility of Itaipu Binacional, Gerardo Soria, at the time head of Itaipu’s desk, hastened to settle as general secretary of a union, despite the fact that he cannot exercise the role for his managerial position. The designation is suspicious because the union says that he does not officially assume the role because the employer has not yet been notified.

Soria’s new position was confirmed by the general secretary of the Itaipu Binacional Workers Union (Sitraibi), Ramón Ramírez Duarte, who said he was on leave.

According to Duarte, on May 4, days after the national elections, his union met in an ordinary general assembly for the election of the new board of directors after 5 years of inactivity and there they gave the position of general secretary to the questioned director of Social Responsibility that, due to a collision of interests, is waiting to be activated in the union function.

It should be noted that, with his appointment, Soria obtains union stability, which is a guarantee that workers enjoy not being suspended, transferred, or their working conditions altered, without just cause previously admitted by a competent judge, as established in article 318 of the Labor Code, an extremely important benefit for the official who has been questioned within the institution. In this context, Soria is accused of being the main organizer of the rigged contest in Itaipu, due to the strong promotion it has been doing and because its entourage, as their relatives, are on the waiting list for the desirable positions, many of whom benefit from the established requirements.

It must be remembered that Soria’s credit includes a complaint against him filed with the Itaipu Ombudsman for alleged sexual and labor harassment of a colleague, a case that was arbitrarily dismissed in the same institution without being communicated to the Public Ministry.

When asked why Soria was appointed as general secretary of the union since he has a management position within the institution, which prevents him from assuming the position, Ramírez limited himself to answering that “when the time comes to assume, he will surely request permission. He (Soria) has not yet assumed the general secretariat ”.

Soria will assume his position at the head of Sitraibi once the formation of the new Board of Directors is communicated to the office of the Paraguayan general director of Itaipu, Manuel María Cáceres, according to Ramírez; that is to say, that with this designation Soria already has a position that serves as “insurance” for him to continue hanging from Itaipu.

Surprisingly, despite confirming that Soria was indeed elected in the aforementioned assembly, Ramírez avoided revealing who the other members of the board are and closed off answering: “At the time they will have those documents at hand. But real documents, truths, not tomes”, referring to a communication note from a directive that went viral these days. He also did not want to provide details about when the communication of the new Sitraibi board of directors would be given, and only mentioned that it will be communicated “in due course, why are we going to be in a hurry to publish?”

About the last general assembly and about the allocation of Soria, from the Nación Media Investigation Unit we sent queries to the acting Secretary General of Sitraibi, Sénen Méndez Ramírez, who is replacing Ramírez who asked for permission; however, he checked our messages and did not respond. It should be mentioned that Méndez puts up with Ramón Ramírez because he holds the position of head of division in the Administrative Directorate of the institution.

After several associates of the Itaipu Binacional Workers Union (Sitraibi) decided to make their resignation from the union public, there was a massive flight from the organization and this in turn generated a series of persecutions, according to complaints that reached our newsroom.

“They treat us like crazy, how are we going to go against power, which is Gerardo Soria,” refers to the complaint from fully identified officials, but whose identities we withhold due to the delicate situation they face at Itaipu.