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Page context: Home > Transport International Magazine > Issue 27 April 2007 > Fighting free trade bullies > Pedro Zamora
Guatemala is a small and beautiful country. About half of its 12 million inhabitants are indigenous, mainly Mayan descendants. Unfortunately however, Guatemala is more famous for its violence against Guatemalan citizens, women, trade unionists and human rights activists than for its Mayan past, colonial buildings and forests.
Following the coup d’état of 1954, around 200,000 people, 83 per cent of whom were indigenous, “disappeared” (were murdered) and many human rights violations were carried out by government forces.
In 1996, the Peace Accords were signed, ending the war and giving birth to hope. They provided a framework for resolving agrarian disputes and addressing rural poverty, inequality in land distribution and the exclusion of Mayan peoples from the political process.
Campaign for justice gathers paceThe ITF is coordinating a campaign for justice for Pedro Zamora, the Guatemalan trade union leader gunned down in front of his children on 15 January. Unions worldwide have been asked to join in racking up the pressure on the Guatemalan authorities to ensure justice is done and protection is provided for the remaining five STEPQ union leaders, who were receiving regular death threats as TI went to press. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the ITF have submitted a joint complaint to the International Labour Organization, and thousands of trade union supporters have signed up to the campaign for justice. ITF unions in Spain, Japan and Thailand, among others, reacted quickly to distribute the campaign information to their members. Unions attending the World Social Forum in Nairobi in January also backed the call for justice. Venezuela’s national television network broadcast a debate focusing on the Zamora murder. Pedro Recalde, president of Argentina’s committee on labour legislation, has written to president Berger of Guatemala demanding a guarantee of basic rights. Green parties in Spain and Britain have backed the campaign, and Spanish socialist MEPs have tabled questions in the European Parliament. EU money helps fund the Guatemalan government’s development programme “Vamos Guatemala”, supplying approximately half of the programme budget for improving justice and security. The ITF is continuing to ask affiliated unions to lend their support to the campaign by requesting their government to demand assurances of the Guatemalan authorities that the killers be brought to justice. Unions are also asked to continue to send letters to the Guatemalan government, condemning the assassination,and demanding that it be investigated and the perpetrators be found. For updates on the campaign,please visit www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/zamora.cfm |
A number of governments, including Spain, USA, Canada, Japan, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the UK still give aid for Guatemala to deliver on the commitments made in the Peace Accord.
However, the reality is that peace is far from being real. The murders are continuing with impunity.
On 15 January 2007, one port worker, the general secretary of the port workers’ union STEPQ (Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Empresa Portuaria Quetzal), left his home, with two of his children, and set off for the hospital, which is located inside the port facilities. He and his union had been fighting for a long time against management plans for the total or partial privatisation of Puerto Quetzal, as well as for compliance with their collective bargaining agreement.
Violent repression
The fight against privatisation was motivated not only by concerns about the labour conditions of Zamora’s members, but also by the fact that the port, being the most important in the country, is an important source of revenue for the federal treasury. Part of its income is being used to provide for infrastructure at local level, which is crucial for Quetzal.
The management decided to use police forces to threaten and repress the workers, violating the international human rights and freedom of association conventions signed by the country. The workers were afraid, but they feared also the prospect of losing their jobs, and their family income. They did not wish to see a public port change to serve only private interests for ever more.
The union had presented proposals for the modernisation of the port, which they understood was necessary, but their proposals were simply ignored. The workers decided to stand together and fight a moral battle.
Pedro Zamora started to be followed, and to receive threats of death. Police officers were sent to union demonstrations. Complaints were sent to the highest level, to the president of the country, but a deep silence was the only reply.
At 19:30 on 15 January, Pedro left the hospital and the port facilities with his two children in his car. As soon as he left the port, he felt he was being followed.
He tried to escape, but he was forced to hit a wall, and the shooting started.
His reaction was immediate. He tried to protect his children, pushing them to the floor, saving their lives (his three year-old son was injured but has since recovered). The car received about a 100 bullets and Pedro was hit by 20 of them.
It was not enough. According to witnesses who took Pedro to hospital, he had been shot in the head, using what is called the “tiro de gracia” – an infamous style of shooting associated with paramilitary killings in Guatemala.
Political act
We believe this obscenity was committed in order to prevent Zamora from working to protect the jobs of his people, and keep them from joining the long lines of unemployed in the country.
The silence of the authorities following the assassination seems to point in that direction. Furthermore, the other union leaders have since received death threat calls, and have started to be followed in a similar way to Zamora.
How much is a port expansion worth? How much is a privatisation worth? The life of one person? The cowardice of those committing murder, and those ordering it? Who would like to buy a port that is flooded with blood?
Pedro was one month away from his 42nd birthday. After 18 years working at the port company Empresa Portuaria Quetzal, he was an experienced port worker. His colleagues had recognised his experience and talents, and elected him to occupy different positions.
In 1999 he was elected as a board member, in 2001 as secretary of labour affairs and just last year, in January 2006, he was elected as general secretary. Pedro fought his whole life – first as a worker, then as a union leader and at all times as a Guatemalan – to defend his rights and the rights of those depending on him, including his family and union members.
Human beings must join together to oppose abominable acts like this. What is the value of a government signature on an international human or labour rights treaty if there is no intention to respect it?
Pedro has left us, but we are still here to continue his struggle. For fair working conditions and the protection of his surviving members and leaders, for the right to have a say at the work place, for a transparent process in the modernisation of the port he worked for, but above all, to gain recognition and protection for the sanctity of the life of every human being – whether worker, trade unionist, indigenous person, human rights campaigner or anybody else.
Pedro, you will not be forgotten. Let us act together and let us stop the impunity in Guatemala.
Antonio Rodríguez Fritz is ITF Inter-American regional secretary.
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Section home:
Issue 27 April 2007
Other pages for Issue 27 April 2007:
Comment: No union rights without human r | landmark labour case | Readers' survey | Fighting free trade bullies | Common cause | New order on the buses | Back in state hands | Stepping up to the mark | Educate to organise | Reflections: On union organising challenges | Working life
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