Trade Unionists Call For Justice In El Salvador

[Judi Lynn]

Trade Unionists Call For Justice In El Salvador
Wednesday, 12 January 2011, 4:31 pm
Press Release: International Transport Workers' Federation

Trade Unionists Call For Justice In El Salvador

11 January 2011

Only days before the 19th anniversary of the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords, a powerful group of international trade union leaders has publicly called upon El Salvador’s authorities to resolve outstanding cases of murders by death squads, placing advertisements in El Salvador’s national press.

The advertisements, appearing in La Prensa Grafica and Co Latino today, highlight the case of Gilberto Soto, the Teamster Union official who was assassinated in El Salvador in November 2004 during a visit to the country to build a solidarity network between transport workers and their unions in the United States and Central America.

The global coalition of union presidents includes twenty-four leaders from eighteen countries on six continents, many from Latin America.

“Nineteen years after the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords, people around the globe are watching to see if El Salvador is prepared to protect the rights of its citizens to participate in union activities and other forms of engagement in civil society without risking their lives,” stated Paddy Crumlin, President of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and General Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia. “We are especially alarmed that the forces of reaction continue to threaten officials, such as Zaira Navas, who are seeking to end corruption and ensure that no one, regardless of rank or class, is allowed to act outside the law with impunity.”

More:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1101/S00200/trade-unionists-call-for-justice-in-el-salvador.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. Unionists demand justice in El Salvador

Unionists demand justice in El Salvador
12 January 2011

A group of international trade union leaders has publicly called on El Salvador’s authorities to resolve outstanding cases of murder by death squad, including that of unionist Gilberto Soto.

The global coalition of union presidents, including 24 leaders from 18 countries on six continents, placed advertisements in El Salvador’s national press on 11 January. The move came just days before the 19th anniversary of the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords in 1992, which ended more than a decade of civil war in the country.

The advertisements, appearing in La prensa grafica and Co latino, highlighted the case of Gilberto Soto, the North American union’s Teamster official who was assassinated in El Salvador in November 2004. He was visiting the country to build a solidarity network between transport workers and their unions in the US and Central America.

“Nineteen years after the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords, people around the globe are watching to see if El Salvador is prepared to protect the rights of its citizens to participate in union activities and other forms of engagement in civil society without risking their lives,” stated Paddy Crumlin, ITF president and national secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia. “We are especially alarmed that the forces of reaction continue to threaten officials, such as Zaira Navas, who are seeking to end corruption and ensure that no one, regardless of rank or class, is allowed to act outside the law with impunity.”

More:
http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/5534?frmSessionLanguage=ENG