A visit to Europe by a colleague of the murdered Guatemalan trade union leader Pedro Zamora has led to the European Parliament taking significant action on human and union rights in the country

The ITF and ETF accompanied Oscar Gonzalez, a leader of the STEPQ dockers’ union, to France, Belgium, Spain and Italy in March for two weeks of meetings with politicians, unions and human rights organisations. The meetings were part of the ongoing campaign to protect threatened members of the union, defend the jobs of the workers it represents at Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, and seek justice for the murder of Pedro Zamora, who was gunned down as he picked up his three-year old son from a hospital appointment in January (see www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/zamora.cfm for more details and a short film about the killing of Pedro Zamora).

Zamora was shot following attempts to secure the jobs of nine workers who had been unfairly dismissed and after a police occupation of the port. Oscar Gonzalez, his colleagues and their families are now experiencing the same death threats that preceded the murder of Zamora.

“Dockers worldwide will stand behind STEPQ in the fight for justice for Pedro and for Quetzal port workers’ trade union rights”

Following his meetings with senior European parliamentarians, the European Parliament passed a joint resolution denouncing human rights abuses in Guatemala (6,000 in 2006 alone, according to the United Nations), including the gunpoint ambush of Pedro Zamora and his sons in January.

The parliament also decided to send a delegation to the country to investigate further and meet with STEPQ members. The Subcommittee on Human Rights will also hold a hearing on Guatemala to which Guatemalan trade unionists will be invited.

The European Union supplies a significant share of the budget for improving justice and security under the Guatemalan government’s “Vamos Guatemala” development programme, and is also a major donor to other elements of the initiative on human rights, the peace process, and dialogue and democracy.

The introduction of transparency and concern for human rights into this process had been one of the key requests put by Oscar Gonzalez and the accompanying ITF/ETF delegation to European Parliament members.

“We are asking for justice for these crimes and an end to impunity,” explained Socialist MEP Raimon Obiols. Green MEP Raul Romeva added: “We have also demanded a clear definition of development assistance aid programmes and better protection for the defenders of human rights in the cooperation strategy with Guatemala.”

Solidarity declaration

Shortly after the European Parliament meeting, dockers’ unions from around the world pledged to support the campaign for justice.

They made a declaration on 19 March at a meeting of some 50 port unions in Sorrento, Italy, after hearing from Oscar Gonzalez, who explained there had been 15,000 murders in Guatemala over the past three years – with very few perpetrators ever being brought to justice.

The victims were not just trade unionists – they were peasants’ leaders, human rights workers – anyone, in fact, who wanted the war-torn country to change, he said. He also outlined how the government sought to profit from the sale of state-owned resources, while capital was benefiting from international trade treaties.

The dockers promised to back the campaign and signed up to a solidarity declaration. They also approved two resolutions geared to build political lobbying of the Guatemalan regime and extend the campaign to all ITF transport sections. A proposal put forward by Spanish unions UGT and CCOO called on ITF unions to ensure that development cooperation funding from their governments to Guatemala included strong human and trade union rights provisions.

“If ever there was a time to implement the slogan of “an injury to one is an injury to all” it is now,”commented Paddy Crumlin of the Maritime Union of Australia and ITF dockers’ section chair. “Dockers worldwide will stand behind STEPQ in the fight for justice for Pedro and for Quetzal port workers’ trade union rights.”

The ITF/ETF-supported visit by Oscar Gonzales to the European Parliament led to a resolution on 15 March calling on Guatemala’s government to assume responsibility for human rights, adopt transparency in its justice system and guarantee the physical safety of trade unionists and others.