The President of the Republic of Guatemala, Eng. Álvaro Colom, received a delegation formed by representatives of Rel-UITA (the Latin American division of the IUF), the Union of Banana Workers of Izabal (SITRABI), the company BANDEGUA (Del Monte), and the Trade Union Federation of Food, Agroindustry and Related Industry Workers  (FESTRAS). The delegation asked the President to intervene to solve the murder of SITRABI leader MARCO TULIO RAMIREZ, perpetrated on September 23, 2007, when he was setting off to work in a banana plantation.

In another order of things, the delegation communicated the objectives and scope of the Working Group formed by SITRABI, BANDEGUA, FESTRAS and Rel-UITA representatives. In a country characterized by a culture of antiunionism and intolerance, the efforts of the Working Group are aimed at opening a space for effective dialog towards finding solutions to the problems that affect men and women workers and production as a whole. The Working Group has also held a number of meetings with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to coordinate the implementation of preventive and security actions designed to improve conditions in the banana region of Izabal. SITRABI has 2800 members, almost 97 percent of BANDEGUA’s workers, making it the largest organization of rural workers of Central America.

Álvaro Colom, a member of the Social-Democratic party Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE), who was sworn into office as President of the Republic on January 14 of this year, has promised to take action so that the murder of MARCO TULIO RAMIREZ will not become another of the many cases silenced by impunity.

Rel-UITA also informed the President about the global denunciation and solidarity campaign that is being conducted by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) as a reaction to the murder of PEDRO ZAMORA, general secretary of the Union of Workers of Empresa Portuaria Quetzal (STEPQ), on January 15, 2007.