LATEST NEWS

10th August 2010 – On Tuesday 10th August, Bruno Ernesto Figueroa, died from gunshot wounds sustained on Saturday 7th August when he was attacked by a group of strangers who indiscriminately opened fire on him.  Bruno Ernesto Figueroa was Deputy Treasurer of the Integrated Healthcare System branch of Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Salud de Guatemala (SNTSG – the national health workers' union), affiliated to MSICG (the Indigenous Peoples and Campesino Trade Union Movement of Guatemala).
Despite repeated attempts to involve the International Commission on Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) in investigating the murders of trade unionists, the organisation appears to be paralysed. The last director resigned in June, citing the obstacles put in the way by the government as the reason why CICIG is not able to do its job.
Read the MSICG's denunciation of Bruno Ernesto Figueroa's murder here (Spanish only).

30th July 2010 - US government acts on Guatemalan labour rights violations
Over two years after Guatemalan and US trade unions filed the very first complaint under the terms of the Free Trade Agreement between the USA and Central America/Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR) over systematic violations of labour laws in Guatemala, the United States government has concluded that "the Government is failing to meet its obligations" to effectively enforce its own laws on the freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and acceptable conditions of work. The US Trade Representative also noted that "the issue of labour-related violence is a matter of serious concern". If, after 90 days of talks between the governments, satisfactory remedial actions are not agreed, the US could impose fines of up to US $15 million per year. This money would go into a fund to finance initiatives to improve the enforcement of labour standards.
Read more...

April 2010 – Last month, two more trade union leaders were assassinated in Guatemala, bringing the total number killed in 2010 so far to five.  One of them, Luis Felipe Cho was found dead on 6th March, showing signs of brutal torture.  Samuel Ramírez Paredes, General Secretary of the Panchoy district banana workers’ union (SITRABI) was assassinated while members of the Indigenous Peoples and Rural Workers’ Trade Union Movement of Guatemala (MSICG) were holding meetings with the United States government in order to lodge complaints against the State of Guatemala for serious violations of labour and trade union rights in the country’s banana sector.
For more information, see the ITUC website.

March 2010 - USLEAP's Spring 2010 Newsletter includes an article entitled 'Violence Against Trade Unionists Rises throughout Central America in 2010':

"The civil wars that tormented Central America ended with the 1996 signing of the Peace Accords in Guatemala, but a new spiral of violence is once again claiming the lives of trade unionists throughout the region.  Between January 1, 2010 and mid-February 2010, six union leaders have been assassinated in Central America: one in El Salvador, three in Guatemala, and two in Honduras."

To read the full article, click here.  For the full newsletter, click here.

28th September 2009 - Trade unionists pay homage to Marco Tulio Ramírez Portela:
Members of SITRABI (the Banana Workers’ Union of Izabal) took part in a mass walk that ended with the unveiling of a plaque with which the organisation rendered posthumous homage to Marco Tulio Ramirez Portela, the trade union leader assassinated on 23rd September 2007. The crime remains unpunished, reported Selfa Sandoval, Secretary of the said organisation.  Read more...

CAMPAIGN

Violence against banana union leaders in Guatemala has been escalating since the murder of SITRABI union leader, Marco Tulio Ramirez in September 2007.  Union leaders and members in other sectors have also been victims of the increasingly generalized violence.  According to the ITUC’s 2009 Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights, nine trade unionists were killed in Guatemala in 2008, and anti-union violence escalated, with trade unionists and their families increasingly becoming the targets of murder, intimidation, harassment, firearm attacks, assaults and abuse.   In total, 19 union members were assassinated between January 2007 and mid-December 2009.  Guatemala is now reported to be the second most dangerous country in which to be a trade unionist (ITUC Report, 2009).

Pressure must be put on the Guatemalan government to ensure that the people responsible for these killings are brought to justice and the systematic violations of labour rights are put to a stop.  As a result of a previous international campaign led by the IUF, EUROBAN and COLSIBA, the Guatemalan president, Alvaro Colom, promised to take action to ensure that the murder of SITRABI union leader Marco Tulio Ramirez was investigated by the authorities.  However the subsequent lack of action by the Guatemalan government on these violent and shocking cases of trade union repression necessitates political pressure from EU governments to ensure that Alvaro Colom sticks to his commitments to end impunity and violence in Guatemala.

TAKE ACTION

1) Visit Banana Link’s Urgent Action webpage where you can send an email to His Excellency Mr Acisclo Valladares Molina, the Guatemalan ambassador in London.  We are urging him to press this issue with his government to ensure that trade union rights are respected and that these cases are dealt with rapidly.

2) Write to the British Ambassador in Guatemala, the Honourable Julie Chappell asking her, in the face of a rapidly deteriorating security situation in Guatemala, to take action to ensure a full and open investigation and the subsequent prosecution of those responsible for these acts of violence.  Ask that, as representative of the British Government in Guatemala, she will be active in the fight to put an end to this pattern of rising anti-union violence and institutional impunity in Guatemala.
Email to The Honourable Julie Chappell (British Ambassador in Guatemala) at consular.guatemala@fco.gov.uk
Please CC to info@bananalink.org.uk

3) Banana Link has also produced Urgent Action campaign postcards to highlight the situation in Guatemala and to encourage people to take action by sending their card to the Honourable Julie Chappell (British Ambassador in Guatemala).  Please contact Banana Link to order multiple copies of the action cards for distribution amongst your networks.

Thank you to everyone who has lobbied the British government so far. Click here to read the most recent response from Ambassador Chappell.

4) Keep up to date with the work of the British Embassy in Guatemala by:
-    Visiting their website: British Embassy in Guatemala;
-    Through Facebook, become a fan of the British Embassy Facebook page;
-    Subscribe to the British Ambassador in Guatemala’s blog. 

VIDEOS TO WATCH

Bloody Bananas - short USLEAP documentary on banana workers and labour rights in Guatemala.

FURTHER READING

Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights
Click here to download this document (ITUC 2009)

The extreme vulnerability of democratic institutions in Guatemala and the increased risk of attacks and threats against human rights defenders
Click here to download this document (Peace Brigrades International 2009)

Internationally recognised core labour standards in Guatemala
ITUC report for the WTO General council review of the trade policies of Guatemala
Click here to download this document (ITUC, 2009)

www.amnesty.org.uk/tradeunions or www.amnesty.org.uk/events 

Two reports have also been published by the Human Rights Protection Unit in Guatemala (UDEFEGUA) detailing the situation facing human rights activists in Guatemala in the first half of 2008. Download English versions of the preliminary report and the general alarm documents.