Central American Trade Unionists Targeted for Murder

Posted April 2, 2010

Six trade unionists in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were targeted and murdered in the first month and a half of 2010. The Spring 2010 USLEAP newsletter provides an excellent summary summary:

Violence Against Trade Unionists Rises throughout Central America in 2010

The civil wars that tormented Central America ended with the 1996 signing of the Peace Accords in Guatemala, but a new spiral of violence is once again claiming the lives of trade unionists throughout the region. Between January 1, 2010 and mid-February 2010, six union leaders have been assassinated in Central America: one in El Salvador, three in Guatemala, and two in Honduras.

These killings appear to be planned, targeting specific unionists who are very involved in current labor rights campaigns. Since the 2006 implementation of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) between Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and the U.S., there has been a sharp upsurge of assassinations and violence against trade unionists in Central America. While CAFTA supporters touted that it would uphold core labor rights standards, it has so far proven to be ineffective at impeding the new wave of violence that is affecting the freedom of trade unionism in the region, let alone protecting core worker rights.

Read the whole article at http://usleap.org/violence-against-trade-unionists-rises-throughout-central-america-2010.