NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5819

Text File | 1992-08-15 | 8.7 KB | 208 lines

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From: Christic Institute <[e-mail]>
Subject: Killing of Trade Union Leader
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/* Written  1:32 pm  Aug 15, 1992 by hrcoord in cdp:carnet.alerts */
/* ---------- "Killing of Trade Union Leader" ---------- */
From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: Killing of Trade Union Leader

UA 260/92  Apparent Extrajudicial Execution    7 August 1992
EL SALVADOR:      Salvador Ivan RAMIREZ, trade union leader

Amnesty International is gravely concerned at the killing on
31 July 1992 of Salvador Ivan Ramirez, a trade union leader
who had returned from exile abroad 13 months earlier. The
organization is concerned that the killing appears to have
been committed by agents of the government of El Salvador
and that other trade unionists have been subjected to
threats.

Salvador Ivan Ramirez was Conflicts Secretary (Secretario de
Conflictos) of the Federacion Nacional Sindical de
Trabajadores Salvadorenos (FENASTRAS), the National Trade
Union Federation of Salvadorian Workers. According to
witnesses, at around 4.20am on 31 July, as he sat in a
restaurant in San Salvador's Redondel Masferrer, he was
approached by three unidentified gunmen. One was reported to
have singled him out saying "Vos sos" ("you're the one"),
after which they fired six bullets into him. Although a
thorough investigation has yet to be carried out, government
sources have reportedly attributed the killing to a personal
dispute. However, the testimony of witnesses and other
circumstantial evidence appears to refute this claim.

According to FENASTRAS and human rights sources, Salvador
Ivan Ramirez began to receive threats some six months after
his return from exile in Sweden. On 13 December 1991, he
received a threatening telephone call from an individual
identifying himself as "Mano Blanca" ("White Hand", a name
long associated with the so-called "death squads").
Anonymous telephone calls on 23 January and 14 February 1992
warned him that he would be killed if he did not withdraw
from his trade union activity. On 13 March 1992, his home
was searched in his absence by armed men in plainclothes who
warned his family not to report the incident. The next day
unidentified armed men were seen watching the Ramirez
family's home.

Salvador Ivan Ramirez was a prominent figure within the
trade union movement. He had been involved in an ongoing
dispute withthe mayor of San Salvador over the creation of a
union of street vendors, a sector frequently harassed by
Municipal and National Police in San Salvador. As labour
advisor (asesor laboral) for the construction workers' union
Sindicato de Obreros de la Industria de la Construccion de
El Salvador (SOICES), he had been involved in organizing
strike action by the union which began in early July.

Salvador Ivan Ramirez left El Salvador in the mid-1980s
fleeing fierce government repression against trade
unionists. He returned in June 1991 in the hope that the
approaching end of the armed conflict in the country would
offer guarantees for his safety and renewed space for his
trade union activities.

Other FENASTRAS members including Secretary General Juan
Jose Huezo and Miguel Alfredo Ram!rez have also received
anonymous death threats in recent months.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Throughout the 12 years of armed conflict between the
government and the Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberacion
Nacional (FMLN), trade union members have been prime targets
of extrajudicial executions, "disappearances" and torture by
the Salvadorian armed forces and "death squads" created by
or linked to them. The armed forces and the civilian
authorities have repeatedly accused certain unions of being
front groups for FMLN. In October 1989 10 FENASTRAS members,
including its former Secretary General Febe Velasquez, were
killed in a bomb attack on their premises following a
publicity campaign in the pro-government press linking
FENASTRAS to the FMLN. On 13 December 1991, two days after
calling for a full investigation into the still unresolved
massacre, the current Secretary General of FENASTRAS, Juan
Jose Huezo, received written death threats.

In January 1992 the government and the FMLN signed a peace
agreement in which the FMLN agreed to demobilize in exchange
for a wide range of military, judicial and socio-economic
reforms and the creation of new mechanisms for human rights
protection. Certain military and security force units
notorious for human rights violations have now been
disbanded, but the implementation of many of the agreements
has been delayed. Meanwhile human rights violations have
continued since the signing of the peace, including
unclarified "death squad"-style killings and death threats
against prominent critics of the government, trade unionists
in particular.

A series of recent strikes in protest at the government's
economic programme and delays in implementing the agreed
socio-economic reforms have led to public accusations by the
authorities that certain trade unions are fomenting unrest
and jeopardising the peace process. In July 1992 FENASTRAS
General Secretary Juan Jose Huezo was again the target of
anonymous death threats. Some such threats have been carried
out. In March 1992, trade unionists Nazario de Jesus Gracia
was murdered, several months after being arrested and
threatened with death by the National Police.

Although these incidents have been reported to the
authorities, as well as to the human rights division of the
United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL), the
authorities have routinely failed to investigate such cases
effectively. AI believes that the failure to identify and
punish those responsible for human rights violations is a
key contributory factor to their continuation and undermines
the effectiveness of other human rights-related reforms
resulting from the peace accords.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS: Please send telegrams/telexes/faxes and
airmail letters:
- expressing concern at the apparent extrajudicial execution
of FENASTRAS leader Salvador Ivan Ramirez on 31 July 1992;
- calling on the appropriate authorities to carry out an
immediate and thorough investigation into his killing which
will result in the bringing to justice of those responsible;
- urging that steps be taken to guarantee the safety of
other trade unionists including Juan Jose Huezo and Miguel
Alfredo Ramirez who have received death threats;
- stressing your belief that human rights violations, which
have continued since the peace accord, can only be
eradicated if effective human rights reforms are implemented
in practice and if perpetrators of human rights violations
are held to account for their acts.

APPEALS TO:                [Salutation]
1.President                [Sr Presidente / Dear President]
S.E. Alfredo Cristiani Burkard
Presidente de la Republica de El Salvador
Casa Presidencial
San Salvador, El Salvador
(Telegrams:  Presidente de la Republica de El Salvador,
             San Salvador, El Salvador)
(Telexes:    301 20245 RS SAL)
(Faxes:      011 503 71 09 50; 011 503 79 34 01)

2. Foreign Minister         [Sr Ministro / Dear Minister]
Sr. Jose Manuel Pacas Castro
Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores
Minsterio de Relaciones Exteriores
Bld. Manuel Enrique Araujo km6
San Salvador, El Salvador
(Telegrams: Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores,
            San Salvador, El Salvador)
(Telexes:   301 20179 RREE SAL)
(Fax:       [phone])

3. Human Rights Procurator     [Sr Procurador / Dear Sir]
Dr. Carlos Molina Fonseca
Procurador Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Procuraduria General de la Republica
13a C.Poniente, Centro de Gobierno
San Salvador, El Salvador
(Telegrams:  Procurador Nacional de Derechos Humanos
             San Salvador, El Salvador)

COPIES TO:
National Trade Union Federation of Salvadorian Workers
FENASTRAS
10a avenida Norte, 120
Costado Oriente del Mercado ex-cuartel
San Salvador, El Salvador         (Faxes: 011 503 21 18 58)

Newspaper
Diario Latino
6a avenida Norte, 325
San Salvador, El Salvador (Faxes: 011 503 71 09 71)

Armed Forces Human Rights Office
Mayor Roberto Molina
Jefe - Oficina de Derechos Humanos
Estado Mayor Conjunto de la Fuerza Armada (C-V)
Calle Concepcion
Final Pasaje Merazo
San Salvador, El Salvador

Ambassador Miguel Angel Salaverria
Embassy of El Salvador
2308 California St NW
Washington DC 20008

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the Colorado
office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain Time, weekdays
only, if sending appeals after September 18, 1992.