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Date: Mon, 7 Nov 94 16:44 EST
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christian Task Force on Central America BC)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: urgent action
To Trade Unions on the Network:
For those trade unions not on the Christian Task Force on Central
America mailing list who would like to be on, please let us know.
You will receive a newsletter, and other mailings. Also, we can
send you profiles on Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua
and International Agreements to Protect Human Rights.
November 7, 1994
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URGENT ACTION - GUATEMALA - URGENT ACTION -
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THREATS AGAINST TRADE UNIONISTS AT TEXTILE FACTORY
Dear Friends,
We have received news from Amnesty International of repeated death
threats and other acts of intimidation against workers and trade
union leaders at the Lunafil S.A. textile factory in Amatitlan,
Department of Guatemala.
On October 8th, Felix Gonzalez, a trade union leader at Lunafil,
and his wife, Debora Guzman, received an anonymous letter at their
home reiterating threats that had been received the day before at
the offices of UNSITRAGUA, the Guatemalan Workers' Union to which
Lunafil's trade union is affiliated. Several anonymous phone
calls came in to the office, the last of which stated that the
callers were holding Debora Guzman and that her life was in her
husband's hands.
On October 6th, a group of masked men violently intercepted Debora
Guzman and threatened to kill her within 48 hours if her husband
and trade union leader, Julio Coj, did not stop their union
activities. **Julio Coj came to Canada in 1989 or 1990 at the
invitation of the Latin American Working Group in Toronto. He
visited Vancouver and had meetings with groups here to put
international pressure on regarding the rights of Lunafil workers
to union recognition and other rights. (See below under
"Background".)
Other members of the family of Debora Guzman and Felix Gonzalez
are reported to have been threatened. Unknown individuals shot at
Felix Gonzalez' brother in one incident.
In May, unknown men carrying weapons went to the home of trade
unionist, Jose Gil, several times to threaten him.
BACKGROUND
Workers and trade union leaders at Lunafil have been subjected to
intimidation since May when a group of 49 of them began a protest
outside the factory. They were protesting what they claim is the
illegal and unjustified closure of the factory with the subsequent
loss of 200 jobs.
In a previous dispute at Lunafil, from June, 1987 to May, 1988,
Lunafil's workers carried out an occupation after labour
negotiations broke down due to disagreements over working hours
and conditions that management were trying to impose, and which
the workers said were in breach of Guatemala's Labour Code. On
May 27, 1988 Julio Coj was shot at, reportedly from a police car,
when riot police tried to end the occupation.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Please send messages to President De Leon Carpio of the Guatemalan
government, expressing concern at the threats and acts of
intimidation against Felix Gonzalez, Julio Coj, Jose Gil and
Debora Guzman and urge the government to take immediate measures
to guarantee their safety and that of their families and all the
workers at Lunafil, especially those demonstrating outside the
factory.
Ask for a complete investigation into the threats so that those
found responsible are brought to justice.
Stress that private security firms must, by law, be licensed by
the National Police and the Ministry of the Interior
Please also send messages to the Canadian Minister of Foreign
Affairs, requesting him to express the concern of the Canadian
government to the Guatemalan government about these threats and
urging him to make the requests listed above.
Please send copies of this message to the Foreign Affairs critics
for the NDP and Reform Party. (Eastern Canada covers the Bloc
Qubecois.)
ADDRESSES
Lic. Ramiro de Len Carpio, FAX:
011-502-2-347364 President de la Repblica de Guatemala, Palacio
Nacional, Guatemala, GUATEMALA
Hon. Andr Ouellet, FAX: 613-996-3443
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Phone:613-995-8872
House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Bob Mills, M.P. (Reform Party) FAX: 613-995-6831
Svend Robinson, M.P. (NDP) FAX: 613-992-5501
Both are at the House of Commons. No postage is necessary to send
there.
Thank you for your support.
