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Global Unions Condemn Murders of Honduran Union Leaders |
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The global union movemnent is strongly protesting the murder of Rosa Altagracia Fuentes, the general secretary of the Workers’ Confederation of Honduras (CTH), trade union leader Virginia García de Sánchez and motorcyclist Juan Bautista Gálvez.
The three were killed early morning on April 24 on the highway between El Progreso and San Pedro Sula by six masked persons, according to eyewitness acccounts. Altagracia Fuentes was shot 16 times.
In a strongly worded letter (in Spanish) to Honduran President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, Guy Ryder, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), called for
a full investigation to establish, as quickly as possible, the motives for the murders and identify those materially and intellectually responsible for these crimes, to punish them with the full weight of the law.
The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national affiliates, including the AFL-CIO.
In his letter, Ryder says investigators believe the murders were planned and they ruled out the possible motive of robbery because police found some $4,000 in U.S. currency in Altagracia Fuentes’ wallet.
AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Emerita Linda Chavez-Thompson says the murders illustrate how little value is placed on the lives of union members by many Latin American governments.
These governments are not protecting union members, whether it’s in Guatemala, Honduras or Colombia. They seem to think trade unionists are expendable. This is horrible.
Chavez-Thompson is president of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), the Latin American arm of ITUC.
Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists with more than 2,500 murders of union members since 1986, including 39 murdered in 2007 and another 17 killed so far in 2008—a rate of more than one a week. Yet the Colombian government has obtained convictions in fewer than 3 percent of the cases and has done little to stop the bloodshed or guarantee worker and human rights in the country.
In Guatemala, eight trade unionists have been murdered since 2006, in addition to one attempted murder, two drive-by shootings and one gang rape of union members. All of these crimes are directly related to trade union activity, and in all of the cases, the government has undertaken no serious investigation nor has it made any arrests. Click here to read more about violence in Guatemala, here and here to learn more about the dangers of being a trade unionist in Colombia.
In a statement, the ITUC, the Honduran unions and TUCA also said of Altagracia Fuentes’ murder:
The treachery and premeditation demonstrate a level of violence we thought no longer existed in the Honduran trade union world and take us back to the years of bloodshed we believed had been consigned to Honduras’s past.
2 Comments
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espero que nuestra tia querida siempre sea recordada por la gran mujer que era.
que se reconosca que muy pocas mujers tienen el coraje que tenia ella para peliar por lo que ella creia.
por todo lo que realizo por su pais y para su gente hondurena.
murio una martyr y que siempre se recuerde por lo que era.
que la muerte de ella no sea en valde. que la vean como ejemplo que se puede hacer y realizar lo que uno quiera. que se unan todos mas fuertes todavia y sigan adelante para que siga progresando todo hondureno y honduras como Altagracia ubiese querido.
una mujer honesta, humilde, sinsera, buena madre, la mejor tia que pueda ver, super trabajadora y con un corazon grande de oro.
ayudaba a quien sea que nesesitaba su ayuda o apoyo.
tia ten seguro que hasta que triagamos a los culpaples de tu inesperado y triste assesinato a justicia, no vamos a descansar.
nuestra tia bella y muy querida Rosa Altagracia Fuentes que descances en paz.
un dia nos volveremos a ver y nos tendras riendo como siempre lo hacias.
tus sobrinas y sobrinos,
isvy, martha. arely, job quintana.
patrick, brady y danika burns.
i hope altagracia is remembered for the great woman she was.
not many woman have accomplised what she accomplised.
she was an example for over 30 years that if you want and choose to do the right thing, changes can be made.
i hope that the group responsible for this horrible assaination are brought to justice.
she died a martyr and will always live in our hearts.
let her death not be in vain.
more than ever the hondurean people should come together and march forward as one.
that is what my beloved ant would have wanted it too be.
she was a honest, sincere, humble, wonderful mother, best ant, hard worker, with a heart larger than life made out of gold.
she helped who ever crossed her path that was in need.
my beautiful and much loved ant Rosa Altagracia Fuentes Rest In Peace.
one day we will be together again and im sure you will have us laughing, like you always did.
with love your nieces and nephews,
Isvy, Martha, Arely, Job Quintana
Patrick, Brady, Danika Burns