Annual report on anti-union violencecontraviolenciaantisindical.org/slim/documentos/... · Annual...

Red de Defensores de

Derechos Laborales

de Guatemala - REDLG

G U A T E M A L A . 2 0 1 8

Annual reporton anti-unionviolence

G U A T E M A L A . 2 0 1 8

Red de Defensores de Derechos Laborales de Guatemala - REDLG

Annual report on anti-union violence in Guatemala, 2018

This report was made with the support of Centro de Solidaridad del AFL-CIO.

The partial or total reproduction of the document is allowed, provided that the source is cited

Guatemala, Guatemala . 2019

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Indice

1. Presentation

2. Context Socioeconomic Context Maquila Political Context

3. Anti-union Violence Defining Anti-union ViolenceStructural Violence Symbolic Violence Subjective Violence Cases

4. Conclusions

5. Recommendations

6. Bibliography

Pág.

3

446

999121316

19

20

21

03


1. Presentation

This report on the analysis of violence against trade unions and defenders of labor rights in Guatemala during 2018 was prepared as part of the Counteracting Anti-union Violence project.

The report compiles some facts registered by the Network of Labor Rights Defenders -REDLG- composed of trade unionists, activists and promoters of Labor Rights representing the Popular and Autonomous Trade Union Movement and of the Global Unions with the support and technical advice of the Solidarity Center (An NGO affiliated with the AFL-CIO).

First, we present a summary of the socioeconomic and political context in which the analysis of anti-union violence takes place. In the second part, we go deeper into the analysis of the anti-union violence from a systemic or structural perspective and then identify the symbolic violence and hate speech that permeates society. Finally, we present data on the direct violence suffered by labor and union rights defenders in Guatemala to conclude and recommend the following steps for both REDLG and the State of Guatemala in the fight to end anti-union violence.

The importance of the information published in this report is based on the need to make visible anti-union violence, the impact it has on a personal and collective level, as well as the need to remind state institutions of their role in guaranteeing conditions of security and freedom. for people who defend labor and union rights in order to strengthen democracy and improve the working and living conditions of Guatemalans.

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Annual report on anti-union violence in Guatemala

Socioeconomic Context

“The limited educational formation, a lack of diversification in the productive structure and a macroeconomic policy not oriented to the creation of jobs, create the conditions for the majority of people in Guatemala [having access] only to precarious jobs; this is worse for indigenous people, women, young people and residents of rural areas. “ (PDH, 2019)

2. Context

Looking data updated to 2017, reports show that Guatemala fell in the index of human development adjusted for inequality, ranking 127 out of the 189 countries evaluated by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP, 2018). According to the data of the Human Development Report of 2018, more than 60% of the population lives in impoverished conditions, of which a third is in extreme poverty. These numbers rise to over 75% in the rural area. Almost half (46%) of children under 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition and almost 20% of the population cannot read or write (UNDP, 2018).

Despite being the largest economy in the region1, the clear inequality, both in terms of income and in decision-making and access to public services, reflects the precarious situation experienced by Guatemalans, especially women and young people in rural areas. In fact, the richest 1% of the population has an annual income that is equivalent to the sum of the income of the poorest 40% (ICEFI, 2017). In the urban metropolitan area, the income of the people is twice as much as that received in the rural area. Men earn 22% more than women and indigenous people earn 80% less than non-indigenous women (PDH, 2019). On the other hand, during the elections of 2015, women represented 18% of the candidates and only half ended up in an elected position. In the congress, of 158 deputies, 18 are indigenous people.

The unemployment rate oscillates around 3%, however, 70% of the Economically Active Population -EA- works in the informal sector (ECLAC, 2014). So, although there is access to work, the quality of it places Guatemala as the worst country to work in Latin America in terms of conditions, formality and salary. With this rate of informality, workers do not enjoy minimum guarantees such as minimum wage, benefits, social security, vacations, etc. This is even more serious in the rural area where the rate rises to 80%.

The minimum wage, adjusted periodically, is insufficient to cover the cost of the Basic Food Basket -BFB-. According to the report of the Human Rights Ombudsman for the year 2018, 87.26% of working

1) http://estadisticas.cepal.org/cepalstat/portada.html?idioma=spanish

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people received a salary lower than the price of the BFB (PDH, 2019). At the end of 2018, a government agreement (242-2018) established that the minimum salary for 2019 will be the same as that of 2018 and will not be increased as in previous years.

Tabla 1: Minimum wage by sector

Fuente: Publinews

It is important to take into account that the cost of the Extended Basic Basket, which includes access to services such as education, clothing, housing, health, etc. is twice as much as the BFB. Making minimum wage equal to the basic food basket has been a constant demand of the trade union movement and workers in general. It is striking that in the maquila sector, the minimum wage is even lower since it is the sector benefited by tax exemptions according to the Law for the Promotion of Development of the Exporting and Maquila Activity and represents almost 10% of exports (ECLAC, 2014). The reaction of CACIF to this government decision was to consider it “right” because it reduces informality and protects current jobs. It protects them in the sense that Guatemala has “one of the highest minimum wages in the region, so the salary established for 2019 will also reduce the gap in competitiveness and real productivity with respect to the minimum wage in effect in other countries that Guatemala, and therefore the Guatemalan workers and producers, are competing against in order to enter the market and attract investment” (Cámara del Agro, 2018).

It is worth mentioning that Guatemala’s minimum wage is the third highest in the region after Costa Rica and Honduras; however, 75% of the time it is not complied with. On average (according to the National Survey of Employment and Income - INI 2016) the income of a worker at the national level was Q2,131.00, that of a rural worker was Q1,480.00.

According to official data, Guatemala has managed to reduce the homicide rate in recent years. However, 60% of the population considers that crime is their main concern (ASIES, 2019). According to the surveys used for the UNDP Report, 60% of men said they had a sense of security while only 44% of women said that they felt safe. Although the rate of violent deaths is higher for men than for women, almost half of violent deaths among women correspond to cases of femicide2. From January to June 2018 there were 160 femicides (GGM, 2018).2) According to the Law against Femicide and other Forms of Violence Against Women in Guatemala (Decree Num. 22-2008), femicide is “the violent death of a woman, caused in a context of inequality of power between men and women, as an exercise of gender power against women”. It refers, in other words, to the particular type of violent death in which the gender of the victim is motive for the intensity or gravity of the aggression.

Q

YearMinimum wage by sector Basic food

BasketAgricultureNon -agriculture

Maquila

2,992.37

2,992.37

2,643.21

2,479.04

2,394.40

2,280.34

2,171.75

2,074.00

1,937.54

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2,992.37

2,992.37

2,643.21

2,479.04

2,394.40

2,280.34

2,171.75

2,074.00

1,937.54

2,758.15

2,758.15

2,417.52

2,284.15

2,200.95

2,096.06

1,996.25

1,906.25

1,808.27

3,609.56

4,211.37

3,958.80

3,589.80

3,236.70

2,900.10

2,617.80

2,440.20

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Both crime and the lack of decent employment, especially in rural areas, have pushed thousands of Guatemalans to migrate internally and externally. The condition of displaced persons or migrants in irregular conditions further destabilizes the already precarious conditions of Guatemalans.

The socioeconomic conditions in which the Guatemalan population seeks to develop take place within the framework of economic policies based on the neoliberal model of “freedom” and deregulation of markets, reduction of the State and privatization of resources. The exploitation of natural resources by large national and transnational capital has led to a reduction of more than 25% of the forest area in the last 30 years (UNDP, 2018); the exacerbation of social conflict in places of exploitation; violations of human rights in violation of international conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations ratified by Guatemala and the worsening of social and economic inequality.

In 2015, Guatemala entered a situation marked by a series of political crises, derived from anti-corruption actions that have brought to light criminal structures dedicated to the looting and cooptation of the State, further complicating the social and political instability that society faces.

Political Context

“With my head held high, I can tell you that our government management does not have any indication of corruption. On the contrary, as the President of the Republic, I have led the fight against corruption, government transparency and accountability. “ (Excerpt from a speech before the UN of President Jimmy Morales, 15 days after the second request for a preliminary hearing against him.)

In August 2017, following investigations conducted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the International Commission against Impunity -CICIG- on illegal campaign financing during the 2015 elections, President Jimmy Morales and part of his cabinet began a series of attacks against, particularly, of the commissioner Iván Velásquez.

August 24, 2017 President declares Iván Velásquez persona non grataOctober 10, 2017 Ministry of Foreign Affairs revokes Iván Velásquez’ visaFebruary 1, 2018 Chancellor meets with UN Secretary General calling for the withdrawal of Iván

Velásquez

March 19, 2018 Ministry of the Interior withdraws 11 agents who supported CICIG in investigations

March 19, 2018 Ministry of the Interior withdraws 20 PNC agents assigned to the perimeter security of the CICIG headquarters

August 31, 2018 President announces in a press conference the non-renewal of CICIG’s mandate as of September 2019.

September 3, 2018 Migration authorities declare the entry of Iván Velásquez to Guatemala is prohibited.

December 17, 2018 Chancellery notifies 11 CICIG officials that their visas will not be renewed.

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Faced with these actions, petition of unconstitutionality were filed, but were denied by Constitutional Court. However, these measures were reactions that evidenced the existence of a broader and more complex strategy. In fact, investigation into the illegal campaign financing revealed the involvement not only of the official party but of the then mayor of the capital, Álvaro Arzú and the Unionist party, as well as entrepreneurs of the largest corporations in the country and members of the Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial Industrial and Financial Associations, -CACIF-. The takeover of the State as a political strategy became evident when, on September 13, 2017, the Congress of the Republic approved, as a national emergency, Penal Code reforms with the intention of benefiting people convicted of corruption offenses and modifying the crime of illegal campaign financing by transferring the judicial responsibility of the Secretary General to the counterpart in the political party, and defining illegal financing only in cases of the funds coming from drug trafficking or organized crime3. The officials and businessmen who would benefit from this were called Pacto de Corruptos. Although the reform collapsed due to citizen pressure in the following days, at the end of 2018 a superficially more moderate reform was passed which still managed to ensure a level of impunity.

The struggle to maintain impunity became latent and involved the most powerful sectors of the country4. Reforms to the criminal definition of corruption did not represent the first or the only crusade that these sectors undertook. It is worth mentioning the 5377 initiative that proposes reforms to the Law of National Reconciliation intending to grant amnesty for all the serious violations of human rights committed during the internal armed conflict in addition to the immediate release of those who have already been convicted. This is not only an affront to the ratified international human rights conventions but it also contradicts the rule of law itself.

Thus, during 2018 and as part of a regional trend, Guatemala was part of a scenario of authoritarian expressions of power to the detriment of the rule of law and the constitutional guarantees of the population in general. President Jimmy Morales, Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel and Interior Minister Enrique Dagenhart publicly criticized the work of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the Comptroller General of Accounts and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. During the press conference announcing that the mandate of the CICIG that expired one year later would not be renewed, the president surrounded himself with more than 70 members of the security forces (civil and military) in what could only be called a threat to the constitutional order and, given the country’s recent history, to the civilian population.

3) Aticles 50 and 407 of the Penal Code. 4) Quino, H. October 18, 2018. Diputados aseguran impunidad para Morales y sus financistas. La Hora. Pages: https://lahora.gt/diputados-aseguran-impunidad-para-morales-y-sus-financistas

Image credits: Edwin Bercián. EFE Agency

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2018 was a year of renewed aggression against human rights defenders. [This aggression] can be seen in the collection of regressive laws which, in addition to the reform of the National Reconciliation Law, includes the reform of the Law of NGOs seeking to restrict the freedom of association, to the stagnation of the creation of the Public Policy for the Protection of Defenders and Defenders of Human Rights.

According to the Organization for the Protection of Defenders of Human Rights of Guatemala -UDEFEGUA-, during 2018 there were 26 murders of people defending human rights, 18 assassination attempts, more than 160 new cases of criminalization and a total of 391 attacks. The number of murders is especially alarming given that in 2017 there were 11 cases recorded (including one case that claimed the lives of 42 victims in the Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción) and 9 assassination attempts. That is to say that in 2018 there were twice as many crimes against life.

Finally, in the face of the 2019 electoral process, the crisis that confronted the Pacto de Corruptos with the CICIG laid the groundwork for the creation of the political agenda that the candidates will use in order to guarantee the seizure of the State and the maintenance of the status quo. Among other actions they capitalized on homophobia and conservative discourse on women’s reproductive and sexual rights for political ends.

The organization Transformemos Guate, with the support of churches in Guatemala, called for the Great March for Life and the Family, on September 2, 2018, in rejection of the Gender Identity Law initiatives and the Law for Comprehensive Protection [... ] girls and adolescents, victims of sexual violence [...]5 . It is no coincidence that, during the press conference of Jimmy Morales, two days before the march, and many of the political speeches since then, the belief in “the family” is mentioned out of context as “the marriage of man and woman”. The generalization that became the so-called gender ideology and the homosexual agenda became the spearhead of part of the anti-CICIG discourse that lumped together the fight against corruption, the specific rights of the LGBTIQ + population and the rights sexual and reproductive rights of women, and used nationalism to appeal to the defense of national sovereignty.

5) Proposed laws 5395 and 5376.

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Defining Anti-union Violence Violence is the use or abuse of power or force with the intention and result of doing harm. Violence takes many forms in society that it is necessary to analyze it within the respective context, otherwise you can not visualize or understand the meaning and impact it has. In other words, violence can not be seen as and act or the sum of isolated incidents. It is important to consider it as a social phenomenon that can give us answers to different questions as we analyze it comprehensively or its different parts in a particular time and space.

Anti-union violence is, then, any action (or omission) that produces physical, psychological, economic or material damage and that has as its objective “to weaken and / or eradicate the union organizations, therefore, their work to build citizenship (Network against Anti-union Violence, 2018). Identifying this type of violence goes beyond the record of physical aggression or threats suffered by those who are part of a union or defend labor rights. When the objective is to paralyze the work to defend or promote human rights, violence can take many forms, many that go unnoticed, and the analysis must include the subjects, the correlation of forces, power relations, social spaces and time in which it occurs.

Anti-union violence, as a social phenomenon, is part of an anti-union system that seeks to maintain and reproduce itself for the benefit of particular interests. For the analysis in this report, we will try to identify the manifestations of violence from a sociological perspective from the theorization of Pierre Bourdieu taken up by Žižek in his reflections on violence in contemporary society. Žižek categorizes violence according to three major levels: structural violence, symbolic violence and subjective violence. These categories will guide the description of anti-union violence in Guatemala.

Structural Violence

“According to a well-known anecdote, a German officer visited Picasso in his Paris studio during World War II. There he saw the Guernica and, surprised by the avant-garde ‘Chaos’ of the painting, asked Picasso: ‘Have you done this?’ To which Picasso replied: ‘No, you did!’ (Žižek, 2008)

Although this report seeks to describe anti-union violence in Guatemala during 2018, structural violence is characterized as a phenomenon whose impacts can only be visualized with the passage of time. Choosing to just look at what happened during 2018 serves to identify the effects of that violence in this particular year.

The structural nature refers to the origin of violence found in governmental and social institutions.From the democratic transition in the 1980s, the economy also underwent a transition towards the neoliberal model that promotes the idea that free trade, market opening, privatization, deregulation

3. Anti-union Violence

010


and reduction of public investment are the best ways to encourage economic growth. This model implied the deregulation of the labor market, making contracting employees more flexible in the sense of making it easier and with no commitment. By justifying the elimination of obligations of employers to compensate severance payment as a way to create more jobs, the guarantees of labor rights recognized both in the Constitution of the Republic and in international agreements ratified by the State were put at direct risk. Unionization has been strongly affected since the implementation of these measures, especially in the private sector. The precariousness of stable work hinders the free association of workers in unions. The reality has shown that the neoliberal model does not seek minimal intervention of the State in the economy, but the kinds of intervention that favor the interests of the large national and international corporations, and therefore the employers. By promoting labor competitiveness in the region to ensure more favorable conditions for foreign investment (low wages and labor flexibility), these policies have cornered the trade unions into concentrating on protecting jobs to the detriment of other labor rights.

The low unionization rates, which in the private sector fails to reach even 1% of the EAP, significantly reduces the bargaining power of the unions, having a negative impact on the representativeness of workers in political areas of influence. Collective bargaining has lost strength. According to article 215 of the Labor Code, industrial unions are recognized, but in order to be constituted legally they have to have half plus one of the workers in the area of activity. In that case, the number of workers required to create an organization of that nature is too high and is further hindered by the lack of certainty about the number of workers or entrepreneurs in total per activity. In this way the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare has played a decisive role [in unionization rates]. An essential condition for democratic exercise is access to information from different sources, as well as transparency on the part of State institutions. In general, in the process of transition to democracy, the State of Guatemala has been particularly slow in guaranteeing access to quality public information. It continues to deal with the bureaucratic tradition, there is no Archives Law or registration culture that allows access to official data quickly and efficiently. This shows that official data from Guatemala, which is used by the ILO, are estimates and/or outdated. This lack of control by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, among others, coupled with the enormous amount of work in the informal sector, hinders the constitution of labor or union organizations by sector or productive activity, dividing the quotas of bargaining power.

The role of government and the laws that regulate labor relations is to reconcile the interests of employers and those of workers in search of social justice. In terms of Human Rights, the State must protect vulnerable sectors, and in the case of labor rights, workers. In 2018, the budget of the General Labor Inspectorate was reduced by 15% and by 9.27% to the inspectors (PDH, 2019). The General Labor Inspectorate, during 2018 received more than 21 thousand complaints and dealt with more than 31 thousand cases6. However, “the IGT does not have an exact data on the number of work centers, it does not systematically analyze the measures adopted at the end of the inspection proceedings, and it has not implemented the Register of Work and Social Welfare Offenses. Only two out of ten sanctions imposed by the IGT have been paid “(PDH, 2019). The lack of resources for the MINTRAB limits the quality of the care provided and, therefore, the protection it is obliged to provide. As mentioned in the Report corresponding to ILO Convention # 87 presented by the Guatemalan Autonomous People’s and People’s Movement and the Global Unions of Guatemala on August 31, 2018, “the lack of precise statistical information severely limits the real possibility of designing public policies to promote unionization and fulfill other important tasks”.

More precise data shed light on other institutional weaknesses in terms of asserting authority and the general impunity that remains in violations of labor and union rights.

6) Resolution Number 11130010-0009001-2019-069 of the Office for Public Information of the Ministry of Labor.

011


In 2018 882 complaints were filed in the Crimes Against TradeUnionists Unit of the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, of which 659 (75%) are for noncompliance.

Source: own elaboration with data from the Public Ministry.

This refers to judicial rulings in labor matters that protect trade unionists but are not respected by employers.

The repeated violation of union rights and the subsequent impunity, as well as the implementation of policies that generate adverse conditions for the trade union organization, reflect the structural weakness of protection for those same rights.

In 2008, the labor lawsuit was filed under the Labor Chapter of the Trade Promotion Agreement between Central America-Dominican Republic and the United States (DR-CAFTA) for impunity in cases of anti-union violence, especially murders against trade unionists. In 2012 a complaint was filed with the ILO for lack of compliance by Guatemala with the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention. As a result of this complaint, a Road Map was established to achieve compliance with the Agreement and the creation of a tripartite commission to follow up on it. In 2018, the trade union movement presented two reports in which the lack of compliance with each of the points on the road map by the government was evidenced. In 2018, during visits to the country by high-level missions of the ILO, the International Organization of Employers-IOE and the International Trade Union Confederation -CIS, both the government and the employers’ sector agreed there has been progress in the area of labor law and freedom of association but without that progress corresponding to the fulfillment of the Road Map agreements. In spite of the reiterated accusations by the trade union movement about the breach of the commitments contracted by the State, the ILO closed the complaint.

Hindering trade union work and the defense of labor rights involves using many resources to reduce the field of work in two ways: first, affecting the conditions of that field (structural violence) and second, reducing the acceptance of that work by the population. Attacks on prestige and legitimacy have been accompanied at the same time by the above-mentioned policies and these can be called symbolic violence.

CrimeNumber of

Reports

418

241

Noncompliance

by individuals

Noncompliance

by officials

012


Symbolic Violence Ilustración 1.-

In modern democracies, the press is considered the fourth power. The democratization of the media should allow for dialogue and discussion between different sectors of society to be broadened through consensus exercises and the measurement of public opinion. However, in Guatemala, the media is just another arm of the ruling bloc’s apparatus. The media plays a role in forming public opinion. Since content in traditional media and social networks is controlled and censored, access to information is limited and directed. By limiting in this way it is possible to create a discourse that apparently is constructed from different opinions but it actually is limiting thinking about these issues through the homogenization of certain meanings. The imposition of language allows the installation of a set of ideas in the social imaginary shaping the way of thinking and perceiving reality. In this way, the Guatemalan population has been bombarded with a discourse against human rights in general and anti-union in particular. The criminalization and stigmatization from the media has been constant. Although during 2018 the political situation focused on other issues, the anti-corruption struggle that had a boom in the social discourse since 2015 was capitalized on in order to attack the trade union movement. In effect, the news about demands from unions of state workers became more public through social media. This suggests that the intention was to generate rejection in the population in general by imposing associations of ideas such as, for example, associating the idea of collective bargaining with corruption without going deeper in the understanding of the concepts. In 2018, REDLG recorded 5 murders, of which only one was covered by the media but ignored that the victim was active in the union. Likewise, the government reported on the inspection in maquilas that was done in response to the complaint before the ILO and had quite a bit of media coverage, but nothing of the repeated threats of closure were found of the kind that happen when workers report abuses, mistreatment, non-payment of wages and violations of their rights. The direct threats to the leaders go completely unreported even to the REDLG for fear of reprisals. The population, especially in urban areas, has its eyes on the actions of the government in the fight against corruption, the media generalized and stigmatized the entire labor movement by focusing on the misuse of public funds and other bad practices of unionized workers in the public sector.

“My mother works for the state, she isn’t in the union because of all the corruption, they even offered her a good deal, but we said no, unions are the cancer that is slowly killing Guatemala”. (Screen shot)

013


The concern that has been raised by human rights organizations in the face of this increase in hate speech promoted by the media and in social networks is when hate goes from speech to action. In fact, symbolic violence manifests itself when the way of thinking justifies violent actions. For example, violence against women as a result of machista discourse, ethnic discrimination as a result of racist discourse, or hate crimes as a result of conservative discourse. Social networks, under the veil of anonymity and impunity, have exponentially reproduced the anti-union discourse to the point that incites violence against labor rights defenders, especially when they hold demonstrations.

Divisions within the trade union movement, generated by the isolation caused by the structural violence mentioned above, has weakened the capacity for response at the discourse level. Given these circumstances we observe an indifference to the direct violence suffered by trade unionists and people who defend labor rights, or even justifications for anti-union violence.

Without the ability to generate outrage in the public opinion for the phenomenon of anti-union violence, and considering the low rate of unionization in Guatemala, and the institutional weakening in terms of protection and guarantees of labor and union rights, the conditions of impunity are created that allow the increase of subjective violence directly affecting trade unionists and those who defend labor rights.

Subjective Violence As mentioned above, the Public Ministry received 882 complaints in the Office of Crimes against Trade Unionists. Of these complaints, 1788 people had been affected.

Number of People Harmed by Gender

The following is based on information filed with the MP.

19%

72%

1,284

Men

339

Women

165 Not registered

9%

014


Number of reports by Department

Guatemala is the department that presented the most reports to the Office. This makes sense considering that the Crimes Against Trade Unionists office is located in Guatemala City. But it is also important to more deeply analyze the expressions of the culture of reporting in the different regions of the country because of issues that affect access to justice including distance, language, gender and economic activity. With little information on unionization in Guatemala, it is impossible to determine the level of under-reporting with which we are working, however, it is not surprising that the departments where there are large agroindustrial monoculture production is where there are fewer reports, either because of a lack of complaints or low unionization. It is important to bear in mind that, if the complaint is not filed in the Office of Crimes against Trade Unionists, it can be presented at any local office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and it is the responsibility of the prosecutor to assign it to the corresponding investigation unit. With the cooptation of the justice system, it is important to analyze and investigate more in depth about the criteria with which these files are transferred to the Office Crimes Against Trade Unionists or to the human rights prosecutor’s office when this isn’t possible.

0 100 200 300 500 600 700400

Guatemala 658

Sacatepequez 44

Solola 43

Huehuetenango 43

El Progreso 25

San Marcos 20

Quiché 17

Totonicapán 16

Suchitepéquez 17

Jalapa 14

Baja Verapaz 20

Jutiapa 10

Quetzaltenango 12

Escuintla 12

Alta Verapaz 20

Chiquimula 7

Zacapa 9

Chimaltenango 7

Santa Rosa 5

Petén 5

Izabal 2

015


Number of Reports by type of crime

* Types of crimes translated in order from left to right: Noncompliance by individuals, noncompliance by public servants, coercion, threats, abuse by authorities, non-crimes, breach of duty by public servant, discrimination, minor injuries, misappropriation and retention, unconstitutional resolutions, falsified evidence, homicide, murder, culpable homicide, serious injury, kidnapping, illegal arrest, others.

* The categories with two reports or less were grouped, excluding murder, kidnapping, serious injuries, illegal detention and culpable homicide due to the seriousness of the crime. This grouping includes: Aggravated theft, embezzlement, defamation, retention of information, ideological falsification, use of forged documents, theft, fraudulent conveyance, taking of bribes, trespassing, usurpation of powers, illicit enrichment, slander.

The Crimes Against Trade Unionists Office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office has a record of 6 deaths during 2018, which is a high figure in any context. The graph presented reflects the atmosphere of impunity and fear that organized workers live under while defending labor rights and the freedom of association, 40 cases reported cases of threats and 42 cases of coercion. The more than 600 cases of noncompliance show how the Ministry of Labor has not assumed a more active role in mediation and intervention in cases of violence in the world of work. Then, to better illustrate the atmosphere of terror generated by the direct attacks suffered by people defending union and labor rights, the cases registered by REDLG are presented from 2018.

0 100 200 300 400

Desobediencia por particulares 418

Desobediencia por funcionarios 269

Coacción 42

Amenazas 40

Abuso de autoridad 24

No es delito 18

Incumplimiento de deberes de funcionarios 14

Discriminación 10

Lesiones leves 8

Apropiación y retención indebidas 5

Resoluciones violatorias a la constitución 4

Falsedad material 3

Homicidio 3

Asesinato 2

Homicidio culposo 1

Lesiones graves 1

Plagio o secuestro 1

Detenciones ilegales 1

otros* 18

500

016


N° Victims’ Names Organization Number of victims

Summary of Facts

1 Joviel Acevedo Sindicado de Trabajadores de Educación de Guatemala -STEG-

2 Attempted murder - 01/20/2018. Two unknown men shot Esteban Hermelindo Cux of the Committee of Peasant Unity and Joviel Acevedo of the Union of Education Workers of Guatemala while they were accompanying the process of supplying food packages for fourteen families benefiting from protection orders by the IACHR, in Panzós, Alta Verapaz. (Alta Verapaz)

2 Norma Ramírez Sindicato de trabajadores del Ministerio de Gobernación -SITRAMINGOB

1 Verbal threat - 02/27/2018. The trade unionist was threatened with death by telephone by the legal advisor of the Departmental Governor as a result of administrative complaints filed with regard to anomalies in the process of control of the lottery. (Guatemala)

3 Alejandro García Felipe

Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Salud de Guatemala -SNTSG-

1 Murder - 04/29/2018. Alejandro García, nursing assistant of San Juan Tecuaco, Santa Rosa and secretary of the district’s subsidiary was murdered by unknown persons. His body was found on a farm in Escuintla.

4 Domingo Nach Sindicato de trabajadores de la Municipalidad de Villa Canales

1 Murder - 06/20/2018. Domingo Nach Hernández, a member of the Workers’ Union of the Municipality of Villa Canales, was found dead, days after being kidnapped by unknown individuals. The union, days before, had won the reinstallation of several workers who were illegally fired because of a court summons. Domingo Nach had previously been threatened with death and reported to the corresponding authorities. (Guatemala)

5 Juan Chavarría Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Municipalidad de Melchor de Mencos

1 Murder - 06/22/2018. Former director of the Trade Union of Workers of the Municipality of Melchor de Mencos, Petén, Juan Chavarría was murdered by unknown individuals, in a neighborhood of the departmental capital of that municipality. This crime occurs in the context of a complaint that Chavarría made against the current mayor Amado Yanes for refusing to reinstate a group of employees belonging to the municipality’s union, who were dismissed at the beginning of the Yanes administration. (Petén)

6 Isay Aylon Sindicato de Trabajadores Municipales de la Municipalidad de Villa Canales -SITRAMVCG-

2 Attack on and harassment of family members-06-22-2018. After the murder of the General Secretary of the Union in the context of the struggle for the reinstatement of workers from the Municipality of Villa Canales, the wife of a trade unionist received a phone call in which the death threat was made to her and her children if he continues in the movement. (Guatemala)

Cases

017



Summary of Facts

7 Juana Raymundo Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Salud de Guatemala -SNTSG-

1 Murder- 06/28/2018. The trade unionist was tortured and killed in Nebaj, Quiché. Mayra Raymundo was also a peasant leader of CODECA, recently elected as Secretary of Youth of the Movement for the Liberation of Peoples MLP.

8 David Figueroa Sindicato de Trabajadores del Centro Universitario de Petén -CUDEP-

1 Murder - 06/07/2018. David Figueroa García, representative of the workers union of members of the University Center of Petén-CUDEP- and the driver for the university, dies because of several shots caused by an unknown individual who was riding a motorcycle and was allegedly committing a criminal act against another person, who also shoots him and causes his death. The incident occurs near the municipality of San Benito, near the house of the labor defender. It is important to mention that a few days before, David Figueroa had reported to some colleagues, defamation, harassment and intimidation on the part of a group of people against his leadership and that he intended to resign from the union. (Petén)

9 Gladis Marroquín Centro de Estudios y Apoyo al Desarrollo Local -CEADEL-

1 Unfounded judicial action - 8/8/2018. After advising two ex-workers of the Finca Unión de Cuatro Pinos, Resp. Ltd, the worked was prosecuted for extortion despite having submitted exculpatory evidence, it was linked to a coerced procedure. (Chimaltenango)

10 Mirna Nij Federación Sindical de Mujeres Guatemala -FSMG-

1 Intimidation - 08/09/2018. In the community of San Luis de Cobán, Alta Verapaz, geopositioning of the land there was done in compliance with agreement 169 and commitments established at a dialogue table with the minister of defense. This activity was attended by members of the Ministry of Defense, the colonel of Arms and Ammunition of Coban, Rony Romero and Mirna Nij, Secretary General of the Women’s Federation FSMG Guatemala, who provides accompaniment to people living on the plantation. Then, during a meeting held prior to beginning the land delimitation process, soldiers took several photographs of Mirna Nij. When the activity was over and Mirna Nij went to the bus station Monja Blanca, she noticed that several white vehicles were parked on the side of the road and one of them is outside the bus station. She noticed two individuals who were watching her. (Alta Verapaz)

018



Summary of Facts

11 Victoria Soto Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala -STUSC-

1 Discrimination against women -28/08/2018. Authorities of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala and former members of the Trade Union of Workers of this university, orchestrated a campaign to discredit Victoria Eunice Soto Pérez, current secretary of finance of the union, whom they have verbally assaulted as well as undermined her work and decisions. (Guatemala)

Subjective violence, which people suffer directly and whose impact is both personal and extended to family and the organization, is the maximum expression of anti-union violence. It takes different forms and is possible, above all, because of the level of impunity and isolation in which it is exercised. It is necessary to know and understand better the expressions of anti-union violence in order to reduce the impact and prevent it until it can be eradicated. Based on these accounts we present the following conclusions.

019


One of the greatest obstacles to registering anti-union violence comes as a result of the normalization of violence within society as a whole. Given that trade unionism and the defense of human rights affects the entire population without regard to gender, ethnicity, age or sexual

orientation, anti-union violence may be less visible when it occurs against vulnerable populations. Women or people from the LGBTIQ + community, for example, tend to be exposed to double or triple risks when organizing to defend their rights because they must act under greater degrees of exclusion and against other types of structural and symbolic violence. A trade unionist woman may be rejected because she is a trade unionist, but being attacked as a woman means the anti-union nature of the violence becomes invisible. In other words, there are specific vulnerabilities that generate differentiated violence. Reflecting on the importance of analysis of the different dimensions of violence as well as the impacts actions of human rights defenders to defend rights as part of a system of interconnected and non-isolated social relations. The articulation between the different efforts to eradicate the different forms of social violence is key to expanding the field of work of the trade union movement and emphasizes the idea that collectively we protect ourselves better.

Anti-union violence is a social phenomenon that is important to understand from its general manifestations to the more particular ones.

Freedom of association in Guatemala continues to be very limited, despite current legislation on human and trade union rights and the ratification of international agreements. The institutional weakness and the cooptation of the State puts what little application of legislation there is at risk.

The stigmatization of trade unionism as a form of organization, exacerbated under the current political situation, has limited the field of work of the trade unions and has provoked violence from the population at large.

There is a huge under-reporting to REDLG as well as to institutions on the reality of unions and the different expressions of anti-union violence. Although there has been progress in strengthening a culture of reporting, impunity and the normalization of violence, among other factors, has made increases in reporting impossible.

Considering the culture of violence in which everyday life in Guatemala unfolds, anti-union violence can take many forms and identifying it as such represents a challenge for both the unions and for the REDLG, as well as for the institutions charged with providing protection. For this reason, we want to emphasize the importance of agreeing on criteria and analysis of the cases that are registered in order to understand and generate training processes with a broader range of impact that we hope for in eradicating anti-union violence.

4. Conclusions

020


To the unions:• Prioritize awareness-raising actions on the importance of documenting and reporting violence

against trade unionists and against people defending labor rights in Guatemala;• Incorporate a gender approach in the analysis of anti-union violence and against labor rights

defenders to identify cases that are ignored as crimes of passion, hatred or against women.

To the Ministry of Labor:• Update the records on unionization in Guatemala and streamline the processes of access to

public information.• Take an active role in the actions of protection and prevention of anti-union violence because

it is a matter of labor law.

To the Public Ministry:• Strengthen the knowledge and implementation of instruction 01-2015 by District Prosecutors,

Deputy District Prosecutors, Section Discs, Deputy Section Prosecutors, Municipal Prosecutors, Prosecutors, Tax Assistants, Prosecution Officers and Personnel Victim Assistance Offices - OAV-, Permanent Attention Offices -OAP- and MP collaborators in general.

To the Ministry of the Interior:• The institution must be strengthened so that there is capacity and resources to implement the

Protocol for the Implementation of Immediate and Preventive Security Measures for defenders of labor rights.

To the Public Ministry, Ministry of Labor and Judicial Branch:• Follow up on cases of noncompliance of judicial decisions by individuals and officials in labor

matters.• Strengthen coercive capacities to ensure compliance with judicial resolutions on labor matters.

5. Recommendations

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• Banco de Guatemala. (2018). Guatemala en cifras 2018. Guatemala.• Barrientos, M. (1 de febrero de 2018). Canciller Sandra Jovel se reúne con el secretario de la ONU

por tema de la CICIG. Prensa Libre.• BID. (2015). mejorestrabajos.iadb.org. Recuperado el 2019, de https://mejorestrabajos.iadb.org/es• Cámara del Agro. (28 de diciembre de 2018). Comunicado. Mantener el salario mínimo: medida

acertada para reducir informalidad y proteger empleos actuales. Guatemala, Guatemala, Guatemala.

• CEPAL. (2014). Bases de Datos y Publicaciones Estadísticas. Obtenido de http://estadisticas.cepal.org/cepalstat/Perfil_Nacional_Social.html?pais=GTM&idioma=spanish

• CSI. (2014). Índice global de los derechos de la CSI. Los peores lugares del mundo para los tarabajadores y trabajadoras.

• GGM. (2018). Informe de Muertes Violentas de Mujeres -MVM en Guatemala. Primer semestre de 2018. Guatemala: Grupo Guatemalteco de Mujeres.

• ICEFI. (2017). Renta básica universal: Más libertad, más igualdad, más empleo, más bienestar. Una propuesta para Guatemala (2019-2030). Guatemala: ICEFI.

• Juárez, T. (10 de octubre de 2017). Gobierno revoca la visa concedida a comisionado internacional Iván Velásquez. El Periódico.

• Lainfiesta, J. (6 de julio de 2018). La Policía Nacional Civil retiró a 20 agentes asignados a la seguridad de la CICIG. Prensa Libre.

• MINTRAB. (2017). Política Nacional de Empleo Digno 2017-2032. Guatemala: Mintrab.• Miranda, I. (2015). Mejora de la gobernanza de la tierra en Guatemala. Implementación del marco

de evaluación de la gobernanza de la tierra. LGAF.• PDH. (2019). Informe Anual Circunstanciado de Actividades y de la Situación de los Derechos

Humanos. Guatemala: PDH.• PNUD. (2018). Índices e indicadores de desarrollo humano. Actualización estadística de 2018.

Washington D.C: Communications Deelopment Incorporated.• Prensa Libre. (27 de agosto de 2017). Presidente Jimmy Morales declara “non grato” a Iván

Velásquez y ordena su expulsión. Prensa Libre.• Quino, H. (18 de Octubre de 2018). Diputados aseguran impunidad para Morales y sus financistas. La

Hora, págs. https://lahora.gt/diputados-aseguran-impunidad-para-morales-y-sus-financistas/.• Red contra la Violencia Antisindical. (2018). Informe libertad sindical y democracia Febrero

2017-febrero 2018. Tegucigalpa: Solidarity Center.• Waxenecker, H. (2018). Desigualdad y poder en Guatemala. Captura de Estado. Guatemala: Paraíso

Desigual.• Žižek, S. (2008). Sobre la violencia. Seis reflexiones marginales. Buenos Aires: Paidós.

6. Bibliography

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