New attacks and death threats against union members in Guatemala
New attacks and death threats against union members in Guatemala
FERNEY-VOLTAIRE, France, Oct. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The global union federation Public Services International calls on Guatemala's President to take urgent action to protect trade unionists, in response to seemingly coordinated attacks on PSI affiliate members this week. PSI calls on trade unions around the world to lobby their governments to withdraw from any trade deals with Guatemala until the escalating reign of terror marked by murders and intimidation of union members ends. Workers who expose cases of corruption by elected and military officials, or simply advocate for their legal rights to fair wages and working conditions, are being systematically targeted.
On 2 October 2013, Melvy Lizeth Camey Rojas, the Secretary of SNTSG Health Center of Chiquimulilla in the Department of Santa Rosa, was in fear of her life for the second time, when gunmen on a motorcycle came looking for her at her workplace. According to witnesses, these people shared similarities with those who assassinated SNTSG Labour Advisor Ricardo Morataya Lemus and seriously wounded Rojas in an attack in July 2012.
On 6 October, Genaro Cruz Telon of Chinebal (Izabal region), former secretary and a member of SNTSG, was gravely wounded in an attack, and is now in a coma. A man has been charged.
On 6 October, Mauricia Garcia Ruiz, General Secretary at the Children's Hospital for Infectious Disease and Rehabilitation, Guatemala City, received a death threat.
On 7 October, SNTSG Organizing Secretary Dora Regina Ruano received death threats against herself and her children.
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