18 June 2008

On March 2nd 2008, Miguel Angel Ramirez, founder of the new SITRABANSUR union on the Olga Maria plantation in the Pacific South of Guatemala, was shot dead. In April 2008 SITRABI union member Enrique Cruz Hernandez was shot during his lunch break. In February 2008 the daughter of the General Secretary of SITRABANSUR was raped by a gang of armed men.

These are just a few of the many recent cases of violence against banana union leaders in Guatemala, which have been escalating since the murder of SITRABI union leader, Marco Tulio Ramirez in September 2007. SITRABI General Secretary, Noé Ramírez, reported that at least five banana workers were killed between February and April 2008. Union leaders and members in other sectors have also been victims of the increasingly generalized violence.

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 new 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 now necessitates political pressure from EU governments to ensure that Alvaro Colom sticks to his commitments to end impunity and violence in Guatemala.

ACTION:

1)  Write to the British Ambassador in Guatemala, the Honourable Ian Hughes asking him, 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, he 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 Mr. Ian Hughes (British Ambassador in Guatemala) at consular.guatemala@fco.gov.uk
Please CC to info@bananalink.org.uk

2)  Banana Link has also produced Urgent Action postcards to highlight the situation in Guatemala and encourage people to take action.  Please contact Banana Link to order multiple copies of the action cards for distribution amongst your networks.

Click here to read 'Guatemala: trade unions at the heart of the fight against impunity' from the ITUC (March 2008)