USTR ignored union murders in Guatemala for 5 years. Matter still unresolved. CAFTA did nothing

[think]

to protect those workers. The TPP is just as worthless in protecting workers in third world countries.

Yet this is completely ignored by the media and many here when discussing trade agreements. The corporate agenda is all that seems to matter regardless how many poor workers are murdered for trying to organize and protect their rights.

AFL-CIO, Guatemalan Trade Unions Call for Reinstitution of Arbitral Panel After Flawed “Enforcement Plan” Failed to Protect Basic Workers’ Rights

October 22, 2013

Over 50 Guatemalan trade unionists killed, five years after the U.S. and Guatemalan trade unions filed a CAFTA petition

(Washington, DC, October 22) – Recognizing the failure of the “Enforcement Plan” to protect the fundamental workers’ rights of Guatemalan workers under the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the AFL-CIO and the largest Guatemalan trade unions sent a letter today to the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Trade Representative, and to the Guatemalan Ministers of Labor and Economy calling for reinstitution of the arbitral panel. The “Enforcement Plan” was signed by both governments on April 26, 2013.

More than five years after the U.S. and Guatemalan trade unions filed the CAFTA petition, 50 Guatemalan trade unionists have been killed, and thousands of workers continue to be harassed, abused, and denied basic workplace protections. Using the Enforcement Plan, the Government of Guatemala has further delayed arbitration and the possibility of justice for workers. This plan has not given workers reason to hope that their rights will be protected and respected, or that the violations will be remedied.

“This plan has made advances on paper, such as the creation of a Rapid Response Team to rein in the worst employers, yet the team has taken no real actions to defend workers. The U.S. government must insist on concrete actions, not just new bureaucracies,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “If the U.S. government is serious about defending labor rights in its trade agreements, and the government of Guatemala continues to fail in these and other areas detailed in our joint statement, the U.S. government must call to restart the arbitration process.”

~Snip~

http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/AFL-CIO-Guatemalan-Trade-Unions-Call-for-Reinstitution-of-Arbitral-Panel-After-Flawed-Enforcement-Plan-Failed-to-Protect-Basic-Workers-Rights

[MannyGoldstein]

1. How one-sided of you

You conveniently chose to leave out the fact that some rich people made a lot more money.

Very telling.

Regards,

TWM

[think]

3. My apologies. Data on the proud multinationals profiting from the current work environment

in Guatemala was a little difficult to find.

But with a little perseverance this partial list was found. (Monsanto & Coca Cola belong on this list as well as many others) :

2013 Investment Climate Statement - Guatemala

~Snip~

Major U.S. companies present in Guatemala, including investors (representative, but not a complete listing):

3M Company
ACS/BPS
American International Group
Ashmore Energy
Bristol Myers Squibb
Cargill
Chevron Corporation
Chiquita Brands International
Citibank
Duke Energy International
Federal Express
Frito Lay
Kimberly Clark Corp.
Microsoft Corporation
Pepsi-Co Bottling Co.
Pfizer Warner Lambert Co.
Procter & Gamble Co.
Ralston Purina
Sears
Sherwin Williams
WalMart
Westin Hotels and Suites
Xerox Corporation

Source:
http://www.state.gov/e/eb/rls/othr/ics/2013/204651.htm

A special shout out to Coca Cola:

Coca-Cola Sued in U.S. by Guatemalans Over Anti-Union Violence

By Patricia Hurtado - February 27, 2010 00:01 EST

eb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Coca-Cola Co. was sued by Guatemalan workers who say they endured a “campaign of violence” by people working on behalf of bottling and processing plants Coke owns or owned there after they engaged in union activities.

Jose Armando Palacios of Guatemala and eight other plaintiffs filed the complaint Feb. 25 in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleging negligence, deceptive practices and other claims against Coca-Cola, the world’s biggest soda maker.

The plaintiffs said they were the victims of violence and retaliation by individuals associated with Industria de Café SA, or Incasa, which operates an instant coffee and Coca-Cola bottling plant in Guatemala City. The plaintiffs said Incasa “is or was previously owned by Coca-Cola.”

~Snip~

“Coca-Cola has done more misrepresenting of their record in the state of New York than anywhere else,” Collingsworth said yesterday in a phone interview. “Coke assures the public and investors they have told their bottlers and suppliers to comply with international human rights standards and yet they will say in court they have nothing to do with these bottlers and can’t control them.”

~Snip~

Full article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=an3NZK5YaGHw

I guess congratulations are in order for those who are profiting from the current work environment in Guatemala

[Bluenorthwest]

2. DU does not like to talk about CAFTA.

The Democratic Yes votes. Much like the current line up:

Bingaman, N.M.; Cantwell, Wash.; Carper, Del.; Feinstein, Calif.; Lincoln, Ark.; Murray, Wash.; Nelson, Fla.; Nelson, Neb.; Pryor, Ark.; Wyden, Ore.


The Democratic No votes on CAFTA:
Akaka, Hawaii; Baucus, Mont.; Bayh, Ind.; Biden, Del.; Boxer- ,Calif.; Byrd, W.Va.; Clinton, N.Y.; Conrad, N.D.; Corzine, N.J.; Dayton, Minn.; Dodd, Conn.; Dorgan, N.D.; Durbin, Ill.; Feingold, Wis.; Harkin, Iowa; Inouye, Hawaii; Johnson, S.D.; Kennedy, Mass.; Kerry, Mass.; Kohl, Wis.; Landrieu, La.; Lautenberg, N.J.; Leahy, Vt.; Levin, Mich.; Mikulski, Md.; Obama, Ill.; Reed, R.I.; Reid, Nev.; Rockefeller, W.Va.; Salazar, Colo.; Sarbanes, Md.; Schumer, N.Y.; Stabenow, Mich.

Democrats Not Voting Lieberman, Conn.


On the Republican side, current Democratic possible candidate Lincoln Chafee voted a predictable Yes on CAFTA. He is the only possible primary Democrat to have voted for CAFTA.

[think]

4. Thank you for this information on the CAFTA vote.

As you say very much like the current line up.

[Octafish]

5. 50 Troublemakers standing in the way of Progress.

Can't have any organized opposition to the New Way of doing business, so... No more Troublemakers. No more problems.

To see a DEMOCRATIC president leading the charge to destroy organized labor is disgusting. That's what the Chamber of Commerce bought the Republicans for.

Thank you for a most important OP, think.

[think]

6. TY also. Eric Holder's efforts on behalf of Chiquita to avoid prosecution in relation to the murders

of workers in Columbia before joining the DOJ also is disturbing.

Lawyer for Chiquita in Colombia Death Squad Case May be Next U.S. Attorney General
By Dan Kovalik, a Human and labor rights lawyer - 12/07/2008 5:12 am EST

~Snip~

Indeed, Holder himself, using his influence as former deputy attorney general under the Clinton Administration, helped to negotiate Chiquita's sweeheart deal with the Justice Department in the criminal case against Chiquita. Under this deal, no Chiquita official received any jail time. Indeed, the identity of the key officials involved in the assistance to the paramilitaries were kept under seal and confidential. In the end, Chiquita was fined a mere $25 million which it has been allowed to pay over a 5-year period. This is incredible given the havoc wreaked by Chiquita's aid to these Colombian death squards.

According to Mario Iguaran, the Attorney General of Colombia, Chiquita's payments to the AUC paramilitaries led to the murder of 4000 civilians in the banana region of Colombia and furthered the growth of the paramilitaries throughout Colombia and their violent takeover of numerous Colombian regions. Iguaran, in response to the claims of both Chiquita and Eric Holder himself that Chiquita was somehow forced to pay "protection" to the paramilitaries (see, Washington Post and Conde Nast Portfolio), stated unequivocally that "[t]his was not payment of extortion money. It was support for an illegal armed group whose methods included murder." See, Christian Science Monitor, "Chiquita Case Puts Big Firms on Notice."

One former paramilitary leader who is in federal custody in the U.S., Salvatore Mancuso, has stated that he has more knowledge about Chiquita's relationship with the paramilitary death squads in Colombia. Mancuso further claims that Dole and Del Monte also made payments to the paramilitaries, just as Chiquita did. Yet, Dole and Del Monte remain un-indicted. Query whether, as Human Rights Watch recommends, a Justice Department under Holder would be interested in pursuing this and other similar leads. This is a serious matter given the fact that the Justice Department has already come under great scrutiny for turning a blind eye to what appears to be rampant corporate support for terrorist groups in Colombia. See, L.A. Times, "U.S. accused of bending rules on Colombian Terror."

~Snip~

Full article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/lawyer-for-chiquita-in-co_b_141919.html

[Octafish]

7. Something very wrong with that TRADITION of power siding with property.

Holder's career in private practice, like his term as Attorney General, was disgusting. His story will serve as another example for the long history of the strong using money and power to dominate the weak. FDR called it "fascism."

The great DUer Ken Burch brought this to our attention a few months' back:

Rigoberta Menchu Vindicated

Greg Grandin
The Nation, January 21, 2015

This week, a Guatemalan court vindicated Rigoberta Menchú. Menchú, as many will remember, was a poor, Mayan peasant woman who lost nearly her whole family to US-backed Guatemalan security forces, only to find herself conscripted into the US culture wars by pundits and academics, who, having picked apart her best-selling memoir, I, Rigoberta Menchú, charged her with exaggerating her hardships.

Among the family members family members Menchú lost was her father, Vicente Menchú, who died on January 31, 1980, in the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City, after he and scores of other Mayan peasants occupied the building to bring attention to escalating repression in the countryside. In response, Guatemala’s National Police fire-bombed the embassy, killing nearly forty people, including protesters and embassy staff. One survivor, Gregorio Yuja Xona, was dragged from his hospital bed, tortured, his corpse tossed out on the street.

Now, just short of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the massacre, the International Justice Monitor reports that three very courageous judges convicted Pedro Garcia Arredondo, former head of “Command 6,” a special investigations unit of the now-defunct National Police, of homicide and crimes against humanity for his leadership of the 1980 siege of the Spanish embassy, which killed dozens of indigenous and student activists and diplomats. This notorious event during the Guatemalan internal armed conflict ruptured Guatemala’s relationship with Spain for years and preceded an intensifying conflict and further atrocities committed against indigenous communities and human rights activists. Thirty-five years after the events, this is the first time the case was heard before a court.

The court also found Arredondo guilty of the attempted murder of protester Gregorio Yuja Xona and former Spanish ambassador Maximo Cajal, the only survivors of the fire. (Xona was later tortured and executed.) The three-judge panel further found Arredondo guilty of the murder of two students during a mass funeral organized to honor the victims of the siege.

A crowd of indigenous victims gathered early outside of the courthouse to perform a Mayan ritual and to hear this historic verdict.

It’s an important verdict, and not only because it is a rare conviction in a country still largely ruled by impunity. The 1980 firebombing was one of the events Menchú’s fact-checkers used to discredit her account of Guatemala’s long civil war, which over the course of more than three decades claimed 200,000 victims. Menchú’s accuser, an anthropologist, argued that the embassy protesters killed themselves in an act of “revolutionary suicide that included murdering hostages and fellow protesters” in order to make the government look bad. It was a ludicrous charge, largely based on showing a few grainy photographs of the bomb scene to arson analysts. But it did its damage: it raised doubts about what many considered the signal event in Guatemala’s bloody civil war, a brute display of unyielding power when many Guatemalans, after realizing that no reform would be tolerated, threw in with a fast-growing insurgency. Blaming this massacre on the protesters was meant to undercut accounts that focused on “structural violence,” racism and economic exploitation for the ensuing genocide, when the army slaughtered around 100,000 people, mostly Mayan peasants, over the course of about two years (1981–83). Calling the killing a suicide also had the effect of transforming Menchú’s father from victim to victimizer, from someone invested with the moral stature of Martin Luther King into a crazed suicidal jihadi.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/195593/rigoberta-menchu-vindicated

Of course, it goes through the coup of 1954.

John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles enjoyed the work of Diego Rivera.



Diego Rivera: Glorious Victory!

Mark Vallens
Art for Change
Friday, October 05, 2007

EXCERPT…

Painted in 1954, the mockingly titled Glorious Victory has as its subject the infamous CIA coup of the same year that overthrew Guatemala’s democratically elected government. At the center of the mural, CIA Director John Foster Dulles can be seen shaking hands with the leader of the coup d'état, Colonel Castillo Armas. Sitting at their feet is an anthropomorphized bomb bearing the smiling face of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower - who gave orders to launch the military coup. In the background, a priest can be seen officiating over the massacre of workers, many of which can be seen lying slaughtered in the painting’s foreground.



The head of the Central Intelligence Agency at the time of the coup, Allen Dulles, and the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala during the coup, John Peurify, are depicted handing out money to various Guatemalan military commanders and fascist junta officials, as Mexican Indian workers slave away at loading bananas onto a United Fruit Company ship. I might add that Allen Dulles was on the board of directors of the United Fruit Company when the U.S. overthrew the government of Guatemala.

CONTINUED…

http://art-for-a-change.com/blog/2007/10/diego-rivera-glorious-victory.html

And back further, to the time when Banana Republics were a big part of the Racket. Remember Maj. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler. The Marine general received two Medals of Honor and singlehandedly stopped the fascist coup against FDR observed:

"War is a racket. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." -- Smedley D. Butler

Gen. Butler said it made him feel like a gangster collecting for racketeers.

For DUers and all who enjoy reading about the nation's true state of affairs: "War Is a Racket" in PDF form.

Even in our Democracy, the ebb and flow of dollars isn't intended to help the people who most need it. The economy and government are rigged to help those who already have more than they can spend. If it weren't, warmongers and mass murderers operating in Guatemala and around the world would be in prison, busting rocks next to the banksters.