On March 2nd, Guatemalan banana union leader, Miguel Angel Ramirez of SITRABANSUR, was shot dead. SITRABANSUR, which is affiliated to Banana Links Guatemala partner union UNSITRAGUA, was founded by Miguel Ramirez and his fellow workers at the 'Olga Maria' plantation in the Pacific South of Guatemala in July 2007. Since then SITRABANSUR members have been harassed and threatened by private security hired by the company -Frutera Internacional Sociedad Anónima, supplier to Chiquita Brands- and 24 union members have been sacked. UNSITRAGUA has been working with SITRABANSUR to support these sacked workers and strengthen union organisation on the Olga Maria plantation.

The murder of Miguel Angel Ramirez is just one of the many recent cases of violence against banana union leaders in Guatemala. In September 2007 SITRABI union leader, Marco Tulio Ramirez Portelo was also shot dead and just four weeks ago the daughter of the General Secretary of SITRABANSUR was raped by armed men.

Pressure must be put on the Guatemalan government to ensure that the people responsible for these killings are brought to justice and the systematic violations of labour rights are put to a stop. As a result of a previous international campaign led by the IUF, EUROBAN and COLSIBA, the new Guatemalan president, Alvaro Colom, promised to take action so that the previous murder of SITRABI union leader Marco Tulio Ramirez is investigated by the authorities. Political pressure is needed to get EU governments to criticise the Guatemalan government for their lack of action on these violent and shocking cases of trade union repression and ensure that Alvaro Colom sticks to his commitments to end impunity and violence in Guatemala.

ACTION: Write to Sr Mario Mena, representative of Chiquita subsidiary COBIGUA, asking him - in the face of a rapidly deteriorating security situation and in the framework of the regional trade union rights agreement between Chiquita, COLSIBA and UITA/IUF - to transmit to the company's supplier that it is completely unacceptable for Chiquita brand bananas to be sourced from a plantation with such an appalling record of violence towards employees, who are simply exercising their constitutional right to from a trade union.

Sr. Mario Mena's email address is: mmena@chiquita.com

Please CC your email to info@bananalink.org.uk

Please contact Banana Link for more information and monitor the Banana Link website to support any further call of action from our Guatemalan trade union partners to end this violence against their fellow union leaders and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Email: info@bananalink.org.uk Website: Banana Link website

Fear for safety of Guillermo Chen (m), Director of Fundación Nueva Esperanza, Río Negro (New Hope Foundation, Río Negro) and his wife and two children (boy and girl).

Guillermo Chen's house was shot at six times on the evening of 5 March. He is director of the non-governmental organization Fundación Nueva Esperanza, Río Negro/ (New Hope Foundation, Río Negro), which campaigns for justice for crimes committed during Guatemala's internal armed conflict (1960-1996). Amnesty International believes that Guillermo Chen's life, and the lives of his wife and children, may be at risk.

On 5 March at about 9pm, two people cycled past Guillermo Chen's house in the city of Rabinal, in Baja Verapaz department, central Guatemala, and shot six times at its gate. Guillermo Chen and his family were inside. Nobody was wounded.

New Hope Foundation is campaigning for justice for crimes committed during the internal armed conflict. In February 2008, Guillermo Chen appeared at least 15 times at a local radio station calling for Indigenous people to attend public legal hearings about the Río Negro massacre of 13 March 1982, in which armed civilians killed 177 Indigenous women and girls. Also in February, New Hope Foundation organized a delegation of survivors and witnesses of the Río Negro massacre to travel to Spain to give testimony in the case against Guatemala's former president José Efraín Ríos Montt and other former high-ranking officials, on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The defendants remain in Guatemala after Guatemala's Constitutional Court refused to extradite them.

On 17 January, in response to some of the arguments used by the Court, New Hope Foundation and other organizations filed a complaint against it for discrimination against Indigenous people. The complaint was dismissed a few days later.

Apart from working on human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict, New Hope Foundation supports the children and grandchildren of those killed with education programmes including in Indigenous languages and culture.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or your own language:
- expressing concern for the safety of Guillermo Chen, his wife and their two children; - urging the authorities to take immediate measures to guarantee their safety in strict accordance with their wishes;
- calling for an immediate, thorough and swift investigation in to this incident, with the results made public and those responsible brought to justice;
- reminding the authorities of the right of human rights defenders to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

APPEALS TO:

Minister of the Interior_ Sr. Carlos Vinicio Gómez Ruiz Ministro de Gobernación 6ª Avenida 4-64, nivel 2, Zona 4 Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala Fax: +502 2413 8658
Salutation: Dear Minister/Estimado Sr. Ministro

Attorney General and Head of the Public Prosecutor's Office_ Lic. Juan Luis Florido Fiscal General de la República y Jefe del Ministerio Público 8ª Avenida 10-67, Antiguo Edificio del Banco de los Trabajadores, Zona 1 Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala Fax: +502 2411 9124 +502 2411 9326 Salutation: Dear Attorney General/Estimado Sr. Fiscal General

Presidential Secretary for Human Rights and Peace_ Sr. Orlando Blanco Secretario de la Presidencia para los Derechos Humanos y la Paz 7ª Avenida 3-54, Edificio SAE, Zona 1 Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala Fax: +502 2248 3020 +502 2248 3021
Salutation: Dear Secretary/Estimado Sr. Secretario

COPIES TO:

Fundación Nueva Esperanza, Río Negro c/o Fundación Rigoberta Menchú Tum Avenida Simeón Cañas 4-04, Zona 2 Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala Fax: +502 2221 3999 *Email:* *info@frmt.org* <mailto:info@frmt.org>

and to diplomatic representatives of Guatemala accredited to yourcountry.

*PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.*

Check with the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, or your section office, if sending appeals after 18 April 2008.

ATENTADO CONTRA DIRECTOR DE LA FUNDACIÓN NUEVA ESPERANZA RÍO NEGRO

La Fundación Rigoberta Menchú Tum hace denuncia pública sobre el atentado que el día de ayer 5 de marzo de 2008, alrededor de las 21 horas, personas desconocidas dispararon con arma de fuego contra la residencia del señor Guillermo Chen, Director de la Fundación Nueva Esperanza Río Negro. 6 disparos impactaron en el portón de dicha residencia. La Fundación que dirige el señor Chen, desarrolla acciones en favor de la justicia por el genocidio y delitos de lesa humanidad cometidos en contra de comunidades mayas y entre ellas las de la etnia achí.

Condenamos este lamentable suceso realizado por fuerzas obscuras en virtud que más que una intimidación es un grave atentado en contra de la vida y la integridad física del señor Chen. Asimismo, constituye una amenaza indirecta a todas aquellas personas del área de Rabinal que desarrollan distintas acciones en favor de la justicia por el genocidio y delitos de lesa humanidad que se cometió en contra de  sus comunidades.

No hay duda que el atentado perpetrado el día de ayer está relacionado con las acciones judiciales que actualmente se llevan a cabo tanto a nivel nacional como en la Audiencia Nacional de España. Cabe recordar que en febrero pasado un grupo de personas de las comunidades de Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, testificaron ante la Audiencia Nacional en Madrid, España, y que la Fundación Nueva Esperanza Río Negro, es parte en la denuncia formulada en contra de los magistrados de la Corte de Constitucionalidad por el delito de discriminación, consumado en su resolución del pasado 12 de diciembre de 2007 en la que de manera ilegal e impune declaró que España no puede ejercer jurisdicción para la investigación y persecución del genocidio y delitos de lesa humanidad cometidos en nuestro país.

Ante este hecho exigimos:

1.   Al gobierno de la República tomar las acciones legales urgentes para que este hecho se investigue y se de con los responsables.

2.   Al Ministerio Público inmediatamente abrir expediente de investigación a través de la Unidad de Delitos contra Defensores de Derechos Humanos.

3.   Que se implementen medidas de seguridad en todas las comunidades de Rabinal con el fin de garantizar la seguridad de todas aquellas personas involucradas de diferentes maneras en la lucha por la justicia por el genocidio y delitos de lesa humanidad.