• e-mail

Workers who were once the backbone of the Venezuelan economy continue to waste away in Caracas as they move into the second week of a hunger strike.

Forty ex-oil workers took to the Plaza de la Moneda square, adjacent to Venezuela's central bank, eight days ago in a bid to claim what they say are unpaid wages.  

In 2007, 8,500 direct or indirect workers of American oil company Exxonmobil were sacked after late president Hugo Chavez nationalised a project in the country's Orinoco Oil Belt. 

Ex-oil workers are into the second week of a hunger strike at the Plaza de la Moneda in the Venezuelan capital of  Caracas

The former oil workers are fighting to receive unpaid wages and pensions from the 2007 nationalisation of oil fields

Despite being promised severance packages and social security contributions, the workers claim they never saw a dime. 

The workers used to be a part of one of the most productive and lucrative oil exporting industries in the world, propping up the countries economy for decades.  

Despite having the largest proven oil reserves in the world, Venezuela is now producing less than half the amount of oil it was in 1997 when Mr Chavez came into power. 

The crash of the oil industry comes amidst wider economic turmoil - the country's inflation rate hit 130,060 percent in 2018 and the country's GDP shrank by 22.5 per cent in the third quarter last year. 

8,500 oil field workers were sacked after nationalisation in the country's Orinoco Oil Belt by late president Hugo Chavez

The hunger strikers say that they never saw the severance package or pensions they were promised after they lost their jobs

The workers used to be a part of one of the most productive and lucrative oil exporting industries in the world, propping up the countries economy for decades

The opposition, led by Juan Guaido, blame the country's woes on rampant corruption and economic mismanagement overseen by their communist president, Nicolas Maduro. 

Many industries, such as the oil sector, were put into the hands of the country's military by Mr Maduro. 

However, the government blames US sanctions that have frozen the country's international cash reserves and restricted oil imports. 

The men look on as they enter the second week of their hunger strike. They are all displaying signs that say 'heulga de hambre' - hunger strike 

The opposition, led by Juan Guaido, blame the country's woes on rampant corruption and economic mismanagement

Many of the men are emaciated. The country has experienced chronic food shortages under President Nicolas Maduro

At the hunger strike, relatives of the ex-oil workers described their suffering to NBC News last week.

Oneida Bello's son Ricardo, 47, is among the strikers. 

'We have been here for 16 months without a response from the government,' she said.

'We want our back pay. 

'In the name of Christ, I am begging them.'