Attacks on Unionists and Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala Continue

A prominent human rights attorney was kidnapped on March 25 and tortured before being released. The attack comes amid increased violence against trade unionists as well, with three Guatemalan unionists murdered this year.

As reported by the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission USA, Ms. Gladys Monterroso, who is also a university professor, secretary general of a Guatemalan political party, and wife of Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales, was kidnapped in Guatemala City on Wednesday morning, March 25, and released 13 hours later after being tortured. The attack came less than a day after release of the Human Rights Ombudsman's first report examining police archives discovered in 2004 showing connections between the Guatemalan National Police and atrocities. See the GHRC website for an action you can take now.

A week earlier, on March 17, the AFL-CIO sent a letter to Rep. George Miller, D-CA, Chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, reporting that three Guatemalan unionists have been murdered so far in 2009 and objecting to the Department of Labor’s January 16 report in response to a CAFTA complaint filed by the AFL-CIO and six Guatemalan unions in April 2008. The AFL-CIO called the conclusions and recommendations of the January 16 report, issued just days before President Bush left office, seriously flawed. The letter, signed by Policy Director Thea Lee, expressed confidence that new Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis will make enforcement of the CAFTA complaint and the labor provisions of all trade agreements a priority.