ARTICLE: Thousands of Chileans to March Against Femicide

INTERNATIONAL

Thousands of Chileans to March Against Femicide

By Matt Malinowski - WeNews correspondent

SANTIAGO, Chile (WOMENSENEWS)--Fifty-two Chilean women have been killed by
their husbands or boyfriends through October and the Network Against
Domestic and Sexual Violence in Chile wants the world to know about it.

The advocacy network, a Santiago-based association of 50 nongovernmental
organizations around Chile, is planning a series of nighttime marches in 12
cities on Nov. 22 to draw citizens into the streets to denounce femicide.

Even though Chile's femicide numbers are far lower than some countries--580
Guatemalan women were murdered in 2006 in what Amnesty International
describes as femicides--the advocacy group is already alarmed by what
happened last year, when 51 Chilean women were killed in murders designated
by both police authorities and human rights groups as femicides.

Under growing pressure from activists and a group of Chilean legislators,
President Michelle Bachelet submitted a women's rights bill to the Chilean
congress in the last week of October.

The bill, to be debated in the next few weeks, recommends that femicide be
distinguished from homicide in Chilean law and that nine new safe houses for
domestic violence be constructed, raising the country's total number to 25.

Bachelet also calls for streamlining police investigations into domestic
violence cases and for creating a special police division designed to
identify and quickly react to high-risk domestic abuse cases.

"There are times to speak, to criticize, to discuss and to analyze. But the
truth is that this is the time to act. Victims can no longer wait," said
Bachelet.

Stronger Measures Urged

Earlier in October, a group of Chilean legislators, led by Rep. Adriana
Munoz, a member of the center-left Party for Democracy, called on the
government to take more vigorous measures against femicide.

These legislators say Bachelet's proposal is a step in the right direction,
but doesn't go far enough.

"I think that this plan is a good effort," said Munoz. "But it is
insufficient. The president still needs to take more drastic measures. She
forgot to include plans to reform Chile's courts. She could have
strengthened the prosecution of these crimes even more . . . I believe that
her plan is too superficial and lacks concrete measures."

Munoz's group outlined a 10-point plan. In addition to incorporating
femicide into Chile's legal code, it includes creating prosecutors' offices
specialized in domestic violence and a nationwide database of
domestic-violence perpetrators.

"We are facing a potential catastrophe for our country's families and social
life," the group said in a statement. "This type of violence requires direct
intervention by national authorities."

Intimate Partners Were Killers

According to police reports, 23 of the 52 murders were committed in
Santiago. Nearly 80 percent of the victims had had an intimate relationship
with their aggressor, either through dating or marriage.

Network organizers are calling attention to a weak response to such violence
and are stoking concerns about a legal system where critics say complaints
about domestic violence are not given adequate attention and where femicide
is not codified as a crime.

The concept of femicide refers to the killing of women because of their
gender and has often been brought about by domestic--as opposed to
stranger--violence. Criminologists consider femicide an expression of male
domination, power and control over women. It is a problem that in its most
extreme form results in murder, and may be accompanied by torture,
mutilation, cruelty and sexual violence.

Currently in Chile, women can report domestic violence at local police
stations or family tribunals, which are courts aimed at resolving domestic
disputes. Critics say that these courts often take two to three months to
process complaints.

"The country's laws urgently have to be adjusted to the situations (of
violence) that many women are facing today," said Soledad Granados, a lawyer
for Amnesty International Chile who specializes in women's rights. "Domestic
violence and femicide should be codified in Chilean law as specific crimes,
and not just lumped together with other crimes. Additionally, there should
be more severe punishments for people who perpetrate this type of violence."

The activists initiated their awareness campaign "Careful! Machismo Kills!"
three months ago with solemn memorial services dedicated to victims of
femicide. It used empty pairs of shoes to represent the more than 300 women
they estimate have been murdered because of their gender since 2001.

Sparking National Debate

The services took place simultaneously in six Chilean cities, sparking a
national debate on TV, in newspapers and in community forums on how to
confront and end the violence.

Since July the advocacy network has been distributing informative flyers and
holding round-table discussions in community centers around Santiago.
Volunteers have been active in five of Chile's 14 regions--which are the
equivalent of states--in order to raise awareness.

An October study by the Santiago-based Faculty of Latin American Social
Studies identified five main contributing factors to Chilean femicides: the
young age of both the victims and their aggressors; a paucity of
organizations to help victims of domestic violence; cultural norms that
encourage men to control women's actions; the secretiveness of the violence,
which often takes place behind closed doors; and the lack of legal norms set
in place to both protect women and prosecute their assailants.

Maria Lenina del Canto, who heads both the Movement for the Emancipation of
Chilean Women, a Santiago-based group that promotes gender equality and the
anti-femicide initiative, sees two main advances since the start of the
campaign in July.

"The first one is that many women, who before did not have anyone to turn to
for help, are now getting involved with the network. They are denouncing and
rejecting femicide."

She says the second advance is far greater awareness of the crime. "There is
a lot more discussion about femicide than there was before. There is more
coverage in the media . . . the media is picking up on our efforts. If news
stories about femicide get on the radio or on television, then more people
are aware."

Del Canto says that while the group attracted hundreds to their July event,
she expects that between 10,000 and 12,000 women will participate in the
marches later this month.

Despite the public and legislative attention the campaign has spurred, she
says the campaign is far from over. "We will be finishing the bulk of our
work this year with the November march," she says. "But we have to prepare
to continue this campaign next year."

Matt Malinowski is the editor of the Santiago Times, Chile's only English
language daily, and contributes to the Christian Science Monitor.

Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org .

For more information:

Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence in Chile - (in Spanish): -
http://www.nomasviolenciacontramujeres.cl/

Amnesty International: - http://web.amnesty.org/actforwomen/index-eng

"Chile's New Sex-Harassment Law Takes Off": -
http://womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2354/

Note: Women's eNews is not responsible for the content of external Internet
sites and the contents of Web pages we link to may change without notice. -
__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
Please donate now by going to:
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=225

Or donate by check made out to:

The Fund for the City of New York/Women's eNews

and Mail it to:

Women's eNews
135 West 29th Street, Suite 1005
New York, NY 10001

Courtesy of:Mujeres Revolucionarias

ARTICLE: Banana Workers Union Leader Assassinated in Guatemala

Thanks to: David

Banana Workers Union Leader Assassinated in Guatemala
by Kimberly Kern / October 31st, 2007

On September 23rd Marco Tulio Portela Ramirez was brutally gunned down outside his home as he prepared to go to work at the Bandegua banana plantation, a subsidiary of Del Monte Fresh Produce.

Do you eat Del Monte bananas? Do you notice where your bananas come from? Are you willing to take a moment of your time to help the workers whose labor sends over a million tons of bananas to the Unites States each year?

The production of bananas in Guatemala takes place in large monoculture plantations where labor conditions are very poor. Workers receive low wages which often don’t cover the basic needs of their families and endure long 12-hour work days and exposure to dangerous chemicals. Yet employees lack the freedom to organize independent trade unions and negotiate agreements with their employers in order to improve these working conditions. Those who have tried to organize have come under attack from both transnational banana companies and independent banana producers. Illegal firings, plantation closures, temporary contracts, civil law suits, trumped up criminal charges, and violence targeting union leaders have all become commonplace. So far in 2007, four unionists have been assassinated and no charges have been made against the guilty parties.

According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the Guatemalan Constitution recognizes workers’ freedom of association and states that all workers retain the right to form and join trade unions. Workers have the right to organize and bargain collectively under the condition that 25% of the total workers are in agreement and possess the right to strike provided that 50% support the strike.

The Constitution also provides for a judicial system to rule specifically on violations of the Labor Code. Unfortunately, the labor courts in Guatemala are overrun with backlogged cases that can drag on for years. Even when they issue rulings, the courts have insufficient power to ensure that their decisions are respected. Consequently, employers tend to dismiss the Labor Code and are rarely held accountable for illegal firings, negligent work conditions and violence against union organizers.

Del Monte, the third largest producer of bananas, is owned and controlled by the Chilean-based IAT Group (their capital is held in the United Arab Emirates) and maintains its headquarters in Miami, Florida. As of 2005, Del Monte controlled about 15% of the world banana trade. Along with the other major banana producers like Chiquita and Dole, they wield a great deal of power in Latin America and can sell bananas to the northern markets at an extremely cut-rate price. According to a French research institute CIRAD, “only 12% of the final retail price stays in the producing countries. An even smaller proportion goes to small farmers (5-7%) or to plantation workers (1-3%)”. The rest is profit in the pockets of the CEO’s and investors.

Bandegua, the Guatemalan subsidiary of Del Monte, is one of many companies with a long history of targeting trade unionists. In 1999, Bandegua dismissed 900 workers who were involved in the Banana Workers Union of Itzabal (SITRABI), the oldest and one of the most powerful unions in Guatemala. On October 13th of that year, a heavily armed attack was led against the union organizers who were planning a massive protest in response to the dismissals. Consequently, seven members of SITRABI fled to the US to defend their lives and pursued a case against Bandegua. As a response, the US government placed Guatemala’s trade benefits on probation until Guatemalan courts convicted the criminals. Unfortunately, due to the sustained violence in Guatemala, the seven organizers continue to live in the US.

On March 7th, 2000, The International Union of Food and Agriculture Workers (UIF) signed an agreement with Del Monte Fresh Produce, which set up local negotiations between Bandegua and SITRABI and committed the company to respecting minimum labor standards. The new agreement ensured that all 900 workers who were illegally fired be allowed to return to their jobs and explicitly stated that all workers had the right to join SITRABI.

Although all parties signed the agreement, acts of violence and intimidation continue. In November of 2006, Cesar Humberto Guerra, the Labor and Conflicts Secretary of SITRABI, was followed by three armed men while driving through the Chicasaw banana plantations in a vehicle owned by SITRABI. The men fired their guns in the air and threw a stone at the windshield of the car.

In July, 2007, military officers forcibly entered a SITRABI union meeting demanding to know the identity of the union’s leaders, the size of its membership and the nature of its occupation. In response, SITRABI filed complaints with the Public Ministry and the Ministry of Defense in Guatemala, who promised there would be an “internal investigation.” According to a statement by the Solidarity Center, “Military officers had been disciplined by the Ministry of Defense in response to SITRABI complaints about the unlawful entry.”

Five days later, on the morning of September 23, Marco Tulio Portela Ramirez was brutally gunned down in front of his house by armed masked men carrying high caliber weapons as he prepared to go to work at the Bandegua banana plantation. Marco was the Secretary of Culture and Sport at SITRABI and his brother Noé Ramirez is the General Secretary. According to STITCH, a nationwide group of women organizing for social justice, SITRABI strongly believes that this killing is directly related to their fight to end the intimidation and harassment of the union.

In his statement on September 30th, Noé Ramirez declared, “At the wake and burial of my brother’s mortal remains, I saw how hundreds of workers who were there with us cried at the loss of a fellow unionist, but also how we all committed ourselves to continue forward with our struggle, refusing to be silenced, because we are not alone: we are supported by allies all over the world….I would like to ask you all to keep pressuring the government and the rest of the Guatemalan authorities so that they will immediately investigate and solve Marco Tulio’s murder, and punish both the material and intellectual perpetrators of this crime and their accomplices.”

In response to this assassination, Solidarity Center Executive Director Ellie Larson said, “The systematic attacks on SITRABI constitute backsliding on worker rights enforcement in Guatemala. No worker should lose his life for exercising a fundamental right to participate in a union. Together we must break down the wall of impunity and rebuild respect for worker and human rights.”

Please take a moment of your time to contact the Guatemalan Ambassador in the United States and urge the Guatemalan government to investigate this case and bring those responsible to justice. You can mail this sample letter from STITCH or write one of your own to ambassador@guatemala-embassy.org.

Ambassador Jose Guillermo Castillo,

2220 R Street, NW
Washington , DC 20008

Tel:(202) 745 4952

Fax:(202) 745 1908
ambassador@guatemala-embassy.org

Dear Ambassador Guillermo Castillo,

I am writing to ask your government to take strong and decisive action to stop the violence against unionists in Guatemala. The recent assassination of SITRABI Executive Committee Member, Marco Tulio Portela Ramirez on Sunday, September 23 is a stark reminder of the incredible danger workers face when trying to exercise their right to organize for better wages and more humane conditions in their work places. I urge your government to thoroughly investigate and prosecute the murderers of Mr. Ramirez and other trade unionist in Guatemala, including Mr. Pedro Zamora of the port workers union.

As you may recall, the SITRABI union leadership was violently intimidated in 1999 and forced to leave their country. Their case became an important test case on impunity for the U.S. government.

The government of Guatemala must also publicly condemn the violence against Guatemalan trade unions.

In addition, it is vital that the Guatemalan government take responsibility for the safety of the remaining leaders of SITRABI and ensure that they are protected from all violence and intimidation. The Guatemalan government must protect those that organize for basic their human rights. I will be monitoring the news as well as following updates from labor rights organizations to ensure that this case is taken seriously and that labor unions are protected throughout Guatemala.

Sincerely,

Your name

Kimberly Kern (Austin, TX) is working as human rights accompanier for the Network in Solidarity for the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). She can be reached at kimika@riseup.net.