Amid rows of softly humming sewing machines, with women calmly chatting among themselves as they go about their work, Margarita Morales picks up one of the bright red T-shirts from the production line.

“We’re making these for people to wear at pro-government rallies,” she says cheerfully, revealing a room stacked with T-shirts emblazoned with slogans such as “With Chávez, the people rule” and with images of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, as well as piles of military uniforms.