“Idar Joel Hernández Godoy” Mission

IUF and General Prosecutor’s Office agree to set up working group

From June 8 through 13, Guatemala was visited by an IUF Mission that took the name of Idar Joel Hernández Godoy, a worker killed on May 26. The mission met with government officials with the aim of strengthening the request for criminal investigation and prosecution of crimes committed against members of the Union of Banana Workers of Izabal (SITRABI).

In the meetings held with Minister of Labor Mario Illescas and Elvin Díaz, personal secretary of General Prosecutor Claudia Paz y Paz, the IUF Mission¹ expressed great concern over the numerous acts of violence and persecution perpetrated in the last few months against members of SITRABI, which resulted in the death of Idar Joel Hernández Godoy and Oscar González Vásquez, two union officials.

“We need to get the authorities to listen to us and pledge to investigate these brutal acts and identify the source of the repeated threats against officials of our organization. We’re being constantly harassed and we fear for the life and safety of our union members and leaders,” SITRABI general secretary Noé Ramírez said at a meeting with Labor Minister Mario Illescas.

IUF Regional Secretary Gerardo Iglesias alerted that if impunity continues, the violence will only get worse.

“It’s a critical situation. For us it is important that the ministry of labor be aware of what is happening in the area and that the general prosecutor’s office conduct an in-depth investigation to determine who’s responsible for these crimes, because impunity is fueling the actions of violent agents in the country,” Iglesias said.

During the meeting, SITRABI representatives urged Minister Illescas to participate, through his ministry, in the conference on “Corporate Social Responsibility and Labor Rights of Banana Workers of the Southern Coast of Guatemala,” to be held next August, with the aim of working towards the establishment of a dialogue between the sector’s workers and companies.

Working group with the IUF

At the meeting with Elvin Díaz, personal secretary of the general prosecutor, one of the members of the IUF Mission, Enrique “Quique” Torres, gave a thorough introduction, in which he stressed that “SITRABI and the Union of Workers of Embotelladora Central SA (STECSA) are the two strongest trade unions in Guatemala’s private sector, and maybe even in all of Central America’s. SITRABI is also one of the five largest organizations of banana workers in the world, and its strength bothers a lot of people,” he said.

As the Mission called for a thorough investigation of the crimes against SITRABI members, Elvin Díaz informed that Idal Joel Hernández Godoy’s case was filed with the Special Unit for Prosecuting Crimes against Unionists, which operates as of May 27 of this year under the Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office.

Díaz also spoke of the need to establish a strategic alliance between the Prosecutor’s Office and trade union leaders, and suggested setting up a Working Group with the IUF to investigate and pursue these deplorable cases.

“We’re not just going to file reports with the General Prosecutor’s Office, we’re also going to implement this working group to classify and investigate the different cases that come up, because our goal is to find concrete answers, so that these cases won’t be ignored,” Díaz said.

Both the Mission and SITRABI considered that the implementation of a joint General Prosecutor’s Office-IUF working group was a very positive idea and significant step towards ending impunity in the Izabal region.