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ITF condemns “cowardly” shooting of Guatemalan trade union leader
17 January 2007
The ITF has expressed outrage over the execution-style murder of a Guatemalan trade unionist on Monday in the port of Quetzal, Guatemala.Pedro Zamora, General Secretary of the ITF-affiliated dockers’ union, Sindicato de Trabajadores Empresa Portuaria – Quetzal (STEPQ), was shot 20 times by multiple assailants, who ambushed him while he was picking up his two sons from a hospital appointment.
Following a round of 100 bullets, he was finally shot at point blank range in the face; one of his sons, three-year-old Angel, was wounded in the attack.
The murder of Zamora is thought to be in response to his role in defending workers’ jobs at Quetzal; during the dispute, police were sent to intimidate him, reportedly at the orders of the port company.
David Cockroft, ITF General Secretary, condemned the paramilitary-style murder, including the use of the “tiro de gracia”, the shot in the face, long favoured by right-wing death squads. He said: “This is an outrage, pure and simple. It could not have been a more dirty and cowardly attack.”
He continued: “We and the international community will not allow them to let this case slip conveniently away the way they have too many times in the past.”
“Pedro was one of our own, a valued member of the ITF as well as a family man and leader of his trade union. We will grieve for him alongside his family, friends and colleagues, but we will not forget that it does not end here.”
Last October, the ITF sent a letter of protest to the government about the police’s heavy-handed tactics during the dispute over dismissed workers and notified the International Labour Organization (ILO) about the case. The ILO has in the past remonstrated with Guatemala over the number of killings of trade unionists.
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