Another Guatemalan Union Leader is Dead—Will Two Campesino Activists Be Next?

[Judi Lynn]

Another Guatemalan Union Leader is Dead—Will Two Campesino Activists Be Next?
By Larry Ladutke
March 13, 2013 at 9:09 AM

On March 8, two men on motorcycles cut off Carlos Hernández’s pickup truck fired eight 9mm bullets at him, killing him. Hernández was a member of several community organizations and labor groups, including:

■The Camotán Peasant Farmers Association
■The New Day Peasant Farmer Coordination
■The Coordination of Popular, Indigenous, Church, Trade Union and Peasant Organizations of the East (COPISCO)
■The National Front for the Struggle (FNL)
■The Executive Committee of the Guatemalan National Trade Union of Health Workers (SNTSG)

You may recall the SNTSG from a blog I wrote in December, about four Central American cases in Amnesty’s Transforming Pain into Hope report about Human Rights Defenders in the Americas. One of the cases featured in that report was that of Luis Ovidio Ortíz Cajas, the Public Relations Secretary of the Executive Committee of the SNTSG. An unknown assailant killed Ortíz Cajas and three other men on March 24, 2012—a little less than one year before this latest killing.

Carlos Hernández had received a death threat by phone on February 21. Two members of the New Day Peasant Farmer Coordination, Omar Jerónimo and Damaso Aldana, also received threats and now fear that they will suffer the same fate as Hernández.

More:
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/americas/another-guatemalan-union-leader-is-dead-will-two-campesino-activists-be-next/

[Catherina]

1. Don't worry, the international community is springing to action

Last edited Thu Mar 14, 2013, 07:46 PM - Edit history (1)

Like a traffic cop on valium

The United Nations Office for Human Rights in Guatemala has asked authorities to do a better job of protecting activists.

http://infosurhoy.com/cocoon/saii/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/saii/newsbriefs/2013/03/14/newsbrief-02

:yawn:

Don't look over here Judi Lynn! Look over in Venezuela where rich people and transnational corporations can't make their profits breaking the backs and lives of the poor.

[joshcryer]

2. 77 union related murders in Venezuela in 2012.

Please spare me the rhetoric. It disgusts me.

[Catherina]

3. That's fortunate because every single post you make

carrying water for the neoliberals and backing US oppression of other countries disgusts me. I would be worried if you approved of my posts.

Looks like we're even. Now back on ignore you go as I learn my lesson never to look at this forum without being logged in so I don't have to read such rubbish.

[joshcryer]

4. If your posts weren't carrying the water for authoritarian regimes...

...then they would be worthy of my approval. Instead you consistently come out in favor of authoritarian regimes as long as they pretend to be anti-American.

I don't "carry water for the neoliberals and backing US oppression of other countries." I support revolutionaries and socialist policies. Which chavismo decidedly is not. It's state capitalism disguised by oppressive faux-populist rhetoric led by boligarchs.

You can put your head in the sand by having "hundreds on ignore" and being happy in your own ignorance. I'd rather be informed, like being informed about the unionists killed in Venezuela, of which there hasn't been one post on this forum about it at all. It's kept real quiet.

BTW, I try not to respond to people who have openly put me on ignore, but you posted something rather disgusting and completely ignorant about Venezuela. I could not help myself. The fact that you continue to be ignorant of the boligarchs does not surprise me though. They are Venezuela's rich elites which are allowed free reign because they are protected by the chavistas. But that's A-OK.

[ocpagu]

7. Hmmm...

"I don't "carry water for the neoliberals and backing US oppression of other countries." I support revolutionaries and socialist policies. Which chavismo decidedly is not. It's state capitalism disguised by oppressive faux-populist rhetoric led by boligarchs."

Funny, because I've never seen you defend "revolutionaries and socialist policies". Quite on contrary: I've seen you systematically attack Lugo, Evo, Chávez, Rafael, Zelaya... I've seen you defend the coups in Honduras and Paraguay as legitimate, constitutional and on hehalf of the people... I've seen you label the progressive movement in the ALBA countries as populism...

On the other hand, it looks as you've got a special consideration for Colombia and the opposition to leftist movements, such as Capriles...

[joshcryer]

8. My criticisms are minor. They're not "systematic attacks."

They're not.

I never bashed Lugo, I just said he was ousted within the confines of the constitution, a far cry from bashing him. I even said he was a scapegoat. That's all.

I have criticized Evo on his building of the mineral highway which Indigenous Bolivians are against. That's all.

I have criticized Chavez somewhat, but the people around him and the chavistas I have had no problem criticizing, regularly, and without restraint. My biggest criticisms for Chavez was his jailing of Afiuni, his holding Decree powers for most of his tenure, and abuse of cadenas to run his platform. That's all.

I have criticized Correa for his crack down on journalists. That's all.

Zelaya? Yeah, OK, you got me there, but I know you want to take the discussion off topic, just search my name and him, and you'll see where I have no desire to waste my time with that two faced dude.

The problem is that it appears that you think that these people should be without criticism.

I do not think anyone should be without criticism.

The knee-jerk, paranoid, near-religious attitude people have for these Latin American leaders is just horrific from a progressive point of view. If we do not see problems within our own ranks, then we are destined to repeat the mistakes. Turning a blind eye to corruption is simply not a progressive thing to do.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Truly. You never miss them at all, and it IS rubbish of the slimiest order. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

6. Voices of the living and the dead cry out for justice in Guatemala

Voices of the living and the dead cry out for justice in Guatemala
March 15, 2013

15 March 2013

SNTSG is an affiliate of Public Services International (PSI), the global union organization which brings together more than 20 million public sector workers in 150 countries worldwide. PSI General Secretary Rosa Pavanelli urges all members of civil society to join the call for justice in the cases of Hernández and other SNTSG leaders who have been brutally murdered over the past year.

In a letter of protest to Guatemala’s current President (and former army chief), Pavanelli says, “PSI condemns the murder of Hernández and any other act that violates the right of workers to freedom of association or otherwise hurts union comrades and their families in Guatemala. We demand that the Guatemalan authorities make immediate investigations in order to arrest and convict those responsible for this murder and related threats to other activists.”

~snip~

SNTSG members have been targets of a murderous campaign over the past year. The union has exposed mismanagement of the country's public health facilities and filed an official complaint against the previous Minister of Health, accusing him of corruption. On 24 March 2012, four trade unionists were massacred, including SNTSG executive member Luis Ovidio Ortiz Cajas. On 7 August 2012, Ricardo Morataya Lemus, labour advisor for SNTSG, was assassinated and Melvy Lizeth Camey Rojas, Secretary General of the Department of Santa Rosa, was shot twice.

Pavanelli says, “We ask – how many more trade unionists will die before serious action is taken? We demand that Guatemalan and European leaders take immediate steps to stop all violence towards trade unions and their members in Guatemala, and to ensure their rights under international law are upheld. There can be no more trade without justice for workers and their communities in Guatemala.”

http://www.world-psi.org/en/justice-guatemala

[joshcryer]

9. Where's your post for the 77 unionists killed in Venezuela in 2012?

Oh, right, people mentioning that are "slimy."