End Violence Against Trade Unions Guatemala
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Guatemala
On September 23, 2007 while leaving for work on the banana plantation owned by Fresh Del Monte in Izabal, Guatemala, Marco Tulio Ramirez Portela was murdered in the presence of his wife and daughters. Marco was a union leader in the Guatemalan Banana Workers’ Union, SITRABI. The crime was perpetrated by armed men wearing hats denoting the Banana Development Corporation of Guatemala (BANDEGUA), a large subsidiary of the US based corporation, Fresh Del Monte. Fresh Del Monte has been implicated for anti-union tactics in its pineapple sector, as well.
Murders against trade unionists in all sectors have escalated since.
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. 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.
CAFTA has been unable to prevent the most egregious violations of the internationally recognized right to freedom of association to join a union. Impunity in murder cases has actually risen since the implementation of the agreement.
Guatemala's president, Alvaro Colom, promised to take action to ensure that the murder of SITRABI union leader Marco Tulio Ramirez was investigated by the authorities but very little has been done.
Click here to read the ITUC report on impunity in Guatemala.
Click here to read USLEAP's 2008 report on worker rights in Guatemala.
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