Endangered Guatemalan begins Euro govt meetings

12 March 2007. For immediate release

Endangered Guatemalan begins Euro govt meetings

Oscar Gonzalez, a colleague of murdered Guatemalan trade union leader Pedro Zamora, and himself under threat of death, today begins a week of campaigning for justice (12 March to 20 March) that will take him to France, Belgium, Spain and Italy. He will be available to talk to media throughout and a Press Conference will be held tomorrow, Tuesday 13 March at 16:30 at the Building Louise Weiss 1.1B at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Global union federation the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) and its regional arm the ETF (European Transport Workers’ Federation) are bringing Oscar Gonzalez to Europe as part of an ongoing campaign to protect the threatened leaders of the STEPQ dockers’ union in Guatemala, defend the jobs of the workers it represents at Puerto Quetzal and seek justice for the murder of Pedro Zamora, who was gunned down as he picked up his three year old son from a hospital appointment in January. His son was also wounded in the ambush, which had been preceded by months of the same kind of intimidation now being experienced by Oscar Gonzalez, his colleagues and their families (see Related Press at www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/zamora.cfm for previous news releases, along with background and updates). Zamora was shot following attempts to secure the jobs of nine workers who had been unfairly dismissed, and after a police occupation of the port.

Oscar Gonzalez will meet with politicians, governments, human rights organisations and trade unionists, beginning with MEPs at Strasbourg, whom he will address as part of a programme organised by the ETF. The European Union supplies a significant share of the budget for improving justice and security under the Guatemalan government's 'Vamos Guatemala' development programme. It is also a major donor to other elements of the initiative on human rights, the peace process, and dialogue and democracy. The European Investment Bank (EIB) also provides loans to the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), which is a likely source of funding for the proposed restructuring of the Port of Quetzal. Speaking on behalf of the workers of the port, he will be asking MEPs and the European Parliament to:
• Monitor the trade union rights situation in Guatemala.
• Take measures to ensure accountability by the Guatemalan government for the funding that it receives from the European Union.
• Establish the limits of the EIB’s role, if any, in the proposed privatisation of the Port of Quetzal via its relationship with the CABEI.

Additionally, as he will be doing in each of the countries visited, he will be demanding a proper investigation, without fear or favour, into the murder of Pedro Zamora, and ensuring that the union is consulted and involved in the proposed restructuring of the Port of Quetzal, in the interests of safeguarding social rights and to make sure that any development benefits the majority of Guatemalans.

Below is the Strasbourg/Brussels Agenda (more details to follow on his visits to Spain and Italy. Updates will be posted at www.itfglobal.org/campaigns/zamora.cfm)

ITF-ETF delegation to Strasbourg/Brussels, provisional agenda

Monday 12 March

Morning: meeting with Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe (TBC on Monday at 9:00)
15.30: Registration, European Parliament, Building Louise Weiss
16:00/17:00: Meeting with Marie Arlette Carlotti MEP
18:30: Meeting with Ines Ayala MEP

Tuesday 13 March
09:00: Meeting with Robert Navarro MEP (TBC on Monday)
10:00: Meeting with Raimon Obiols I German MEP
11:00: Meeting with Miguel Angel Martinez Martinez MEP

(12:00: MEPs vote)

14:00: Meeting with Raul Romeva I Rueda MEP
14:45: Meeting with Richard Howitt MEP
15:30: Meeting with Pasqualina Napoletano MEP
16:00: Meeting with Helene Flautre MEP
16:30: Press conference sponsored by Raimon Obiols I Germa MEP and the Socialist Group in the EP
17:30: Meeting with Luisa Morgantini MEP and other MEPs from the GUE Group in the EP
Others: Meeting with Veronique de Keyser MEP (TBC on Tuesday morning)

Wednesday 14 March

11:30: Meeting with Eric Baume, Foreign Relations Desk Guatemala, European Commission, Brussels (TBC)

ENDS

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