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Second mission to Guatemala concerned for union leaders’ safety
10 August 2007
A second mission to Guatemala to look into the murder of dockers’ union leader Pedro Zamora has expressed concern for the safety of current leaders of the union.
The mission – organised jointly by the ITF and the International Trade Union Confederation – attended a week of meetings from 22 – 27 July with members of the Guatemalan Congress, the Commission on Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Commission, as well as the official investigators of the attorney general’s office.
It is now more than six months since Pedro Zamora, leader of the ITF- affiliated Sindicato de Trabajadores de Empresa Portuaria Quetzal (STEPQ), was killed in a hail of gunfire. The murder came in the midst of a bitter dispute between port management and the union over the future of the port, during which several union activists were dismissed.
The ITF and ITUC have been conducting an international campaign, of which the missions are a part, to see Zamora’s killers brought to justice. The missions also aim to demonstrate international union concern for the safety of other union leaders and to help re-establish basic union rights in the port.
According to ITF Assistant General Secretary Stuart Howard who accompanied the mission, the situation is tense: “We have been told that it is almost certainly international attention that has prevented the case from being dropped. But there is a widespread climate of impunity in which most people expect that nothing will be done to bring those responsible to justice, especially where cases of corruption at a high level may be involved. Nevertheless we are encouraged that the investigators have been looking at the port dispute as the most likely reason for the killing. However, we have also been told of long delays in obtaining basic forensic information. We are concerned that the more time the investigation takes the more that individual union leaders are put at risk. We need results as soon as possible.”
The next few weeks leading up to national elections in September are critical. The port management is keen to see its privatisation plans implemented before any change of government. The mission is therefore demanding that modernisation plans go through a transparent procedure with safeguards against corruption in place and should involve consultation with the union. In the meantime, normal negotiations with STEPQ on pay and conditions must be resumed to restore a climate of peace and personal safety.
Pressure from the first mission forced the government to insist on the reinstatement of the dismissed workers.
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