Guatemala: Illegal dismissal and repression against rural workers, and threats against human rights defenders in the conflict of the coffee plantation María de Lourdes, Génova

In the last few months, the conflict between rural workers and landowners of the coffee plantation María de Lourdes, municipality of Génova, department of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, has become more serious. In 1992, 47 workers were illegally dismissed, because they created a trade union. Even though the Supreme Court of Justice had ordered the reinstatement of these workers and the payment of the unpaid salaries, the employers, relatives of the current President of Guatemala, refuse to accept the foundations of the Rule of Law. On the contrary, there are 21 arrest warrants against leaders of the workers’ movement and the legal representative of the Pastoral de la Tierra. Two of the workers’ leaders were arrested on the 19th of April 2004. The representatives of the Pastoral de la Tierra are victim of telephone threats and criminal proceedings. The food situation of the affected families continues to be very precarious.   As long as the State of Guatemala does not succeed in implementing the court resolutions in favour of the dismissed workers, the State is violating its obligation to protect the right to feed oneself, as well as the labour rights that workers have against the abuse of employers.  

An urgent action must be sent urgently to the President of the Republic, demanding him to intervene directly in this case, so that court resolutions are immediately implemented, especially with regard to the payment of unpaid salaries, and the repression against workers and human rights defenders stops. Please, send a copy of this letter to the Public Ministry and the Pastoral de la Tierra in Quetzaltenango, who legally accompany the affected families.