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Guatemalan government pledges to follow up investigation into murdered dockers’ leader
30 January 2008
The newly elected Guatemalan President has promised to look into the case of murdered trade unionist Pedro Zamora, who was gunned down in Puerto Quetzal last January.
President Alvaro Colom made the commitment during a meeting with an ITF delegation in Guatemala City yesterday. He also stated that managers of Quetzal port, who were in charge at the time of Zamora’s death, would be replaced. It is believed that the murder was linked to Zamora’s role in opposing plans to privatise the port.
The meeting took place at the opening of an International Trade Union Confederation conference focusing on the role of trade unions in combating impunity. Some 150 trade unionists from Central America, the US and Europe, as well as ambassadors and diplomats from the US, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico and Europe are gathered at the event.
Speaking at the conference, President Colom, who has been in office for only 14 days, undertook to fight impunity and expressed his determination to build a strong democratic state in Guatemala, with the support of trade unions. "The role of unions is essential, so let us increase membership in all sectors," he said.
ITF Assistant General Secretary Stuart Howard commented: "Almost exactly a year after Pedro’s brutal killing we have received President Colom’s personal assurance that something is going to be done, and we heartily welcome that pledge. In return we have promised to work with all those committed to justice in Guatemala."
This is the third delegation that the ITF has dispatched to Guatemala; the previous two missions were instrumental in shielding threatened trade unionists, exposing the political nature of the killing, and protecting the labour rights of workers at Puerto Quetzal.
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