10,000 former workers blockade Coca-Cola

Over 10,000 former employees of a subsidiary of Coca-Cola are blockading 75 Coke warehouses and bottling plants around Venezuela.

The protestors are demanding that millions of dollars in unpaid social benefits, such as pensions and severance payments, be paid immediately to them by Coca-Cola Femsa, a Mexican-based subsidiary of the US soft drinks company. They are backed by a special parliamentary commission consisting of legislators loyal to President Hugo Chávez.