GUATEMALA LABOR/TIP UPDATE #3-2004

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 GUATEMALA 001106

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT OF STATE FOR DRL/IL, WHA/CEN AND WHA/PPC
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR FOR ILAB
USTR FOR BUD CLATANOFF

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB ETRD KCRM PHUM GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA LABOR/TIP UPDATE #3-2004



1. (SBU) The following is an update of significant recent
developments in the labor sector and trafficking in persons
(TIP). Topics include:

-- Labor: 100 Days in Labor (paras 1-2)

-- Labor: Apparel Sector Plans Mediation Center (3)

-- Labor: Uncertainty at NB Maquila (4)

-- Labor: Prosecutions and Personnel Changes (5)

-- Labor: Finca Maria Lourdes Arrests (6)

-- Labor: Reforms Stalled (7)

-- TIP: DHS Trains 376 Officials (8)

-- TIP: New Enforcement Efforts (9)

-- TIP: Solicitor General to Combat TIP (10)

-- TIP: Legislation Update (11-12)

-- TIP: AID Proposes Prevention and Victims Assistance (13)

Labor: 100 Days
--------------


1. (SBU) An internal report (really a matrix with
indicators) on the accomplishment of Berger Administration
100-day goals shared by the Labor Ministry with the Embassy
includes mention of the pending labor code reforms, and takes
credit for completion of rules implementing the Law of
Integrated Protection of Children and Adolescents, conducting
workshops on the law with Labor Ministry employees,
strengthening of the special child labor inspection unit,
monitoring of ILO-supported child labor projects, and
beginning to unify criteria to resolve labor problems in the
maquila sector. In addition, the matrix includes other
efforts such as restructuring the Inspectorate General to
create a notification section, implementing effective
mechanism to control corruption, and developing training and
statistical systems, institutional and administrative reforms
and job creation initiatives. In an event marking his
government's first 100 days, President Berger also
congratulated his Education Minister for providing 8-month
contracts to 11,000 of 13,000 new teachers permanently hired
by outgoing President Portillo. Portillo's action had been
struck down by the Constitutional Court for procedural
illegalities and 2,000 of those named were found to lack
basic qualifications.


2. (U) Unions used the traditional May Day march to burn
President Berger in effigy, denounce the government's
policies as pro-business, call for the release of labor
leaders Rigoberto Duenas (jailed since June 2003 for alleged
involvement in a corruption scheme at the Social Security
Institute) and Victoriano Zacarias (jailed with other
protesting trucker union members since February 25 for
endangering the public) from preventive detention, and to
reject CAFTA as anti-worker. President Portillo's final
minimum wage increase was ruled unconstitutional by the
Constitutional Court in January; a new round of minimum wage
negotiations have begun. In February, President Berger named
prominent labor union leader Jose Pinzon to the Commission to
Implement the Peace Accords. The Commission provided input
to another GOG commission designing a major fiscal reform
package to help close a yawning budget deficit inherited from
the previous government. Unions and other civil groups
submitted their own proposals.

Labor: New Mediation Center Project
--------------


3. (U) On March 25, the Apparel Export Association (VESTEX)
publicly unveiled a mediation/alternative dispute resolution
project supported by AID through the Central American
Economic Integration Secretariat (SIECA). VESTEX labor
advisor Rolando Figueroa said the Center for Alternative
Resolution of Labor Conflicts would be available to VESTEX's
260 member companies (224 apparel and 36 textile) and their
141,638 employees. Among its goals, the Center will seek to
improve trust between employers and workers, resolve
conflicts in their early stages, and improve the image of
participating firms. After preparatory work and training of
mediators, the Center will open in September 2004.

Labor: Maquila Workers Worried about Closure
--------------


4. (U) US-based labor rights NGO US/LEAP, the AFL-CIO
Solidarity Center, and union leaders at the unionized and
Korean-owned apparel export plant Nobland International
expressed concern to LabAtt on April 28 about the rumored
closing of the plant. Subsequent discussions with Labor
Minister Gallardo, Labor Inspector General Celeste Ayala, the
Korean Embassy, the GAP labor monitor and with VESTEX
officials clarified that NB has named a new plant manager and
reduced its production somewhat due to a decline in orders.
VESTEX convoked a meeting among the new manager, factory
union leaders, and the FESTRAS labor confederation for May 4,
which LabAtt will attend as an observer. Until recently, NB
management had been participating in good faith in weekly
negotiating sessions of the company's first collective
bargaining agreement with the union, hosted by a Ministry's
labor inspector. According to the Korean Embassy,
productivity at the NB plant here has been slipping and fewer
contracts have been received from company agents in Korea.
NB has another plant in Vietnam but is also sensitive to the
concerns of U.S. buyers that the unionized factory here not
be closed.

Labor: New Special Prosecutor, Progress
--------------


5. (U) Attorney General Florido recently named a new Special
Prosecutor for Crimes Against Journalists and Trade
Unionists, Mario Estuardo Castaneda. LabAtt will meet with
the new Special Prosecutor on May 5. Prior to departing for
a new assignment, the former Special Prosecutor, Antonio
Cortez Sis, gave the following updates on cases of interest.
Mario Roberto Ortiz Barranco, accused of the murder of
trucking union leader Oswaldo Monzon Lima in June 2000, was
released on bail (approx. $6,250) in April. The Special
Prosecutor has appealed the local court's bail decision and
is awaiting an audience before the appeals court. Cortez Sis
reported progress in the investigation, which should
culminate in a request for the opening of a trial in June.
Cortez Sis also reported progress on another murder case, of
Baldomero de Jesus Ramirez in June 1999, which could lead to
a request for an arrest warrant against the former mayor of
Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, Escuintla.

Labor: Finca Maria Lourdes
--------------


6. (SBU) At the request of the Agrarian Platform, a
coalition of campesino, land rights groups and NGOs, an
inter-sectoral "Negotiation Table" was established to resolve
several land/labor conflicts in Quetzaltenango, including the
Finca Maria Lourdes case, on February 23, 2004. The Finca
Maria Lourdes dispute stems from illegal firings of union
members dating to 1995, and is featured in GSP petitions
under current review. Since the firings the plantation has
changed hands and is reportedly now owned by a relative of
First Lady Wendy de Berger. Participants in the Mesa include
representatives of the workers and owners of Finca Maria
Lourdes, the UN (MINUGUA),the Human Rights Ombudsman's
Office, CONTIERRA and FONTIERRA (the Government's land
dispute resolution commission and land bank, respectively),
Congressional deputy Alfredo de Leon and the provincial
government of Quetzaltenango. On April 19, two Maria Lourdes
worker representatives and Agrarian Platform members, Juan
Jose Mota and Humberto Lopez, were reportedly detained by
police under charges of "usurpation" stemming from their
illegal occupation of plantation land. The Platform
protested the detention and also called for suspension of
outstanding arrest warrants against other Finca workers under
similar charges; members of the Platform claims President
Berger agreed not to enforce those warrants during
negotiations. On April 21, Vice Minister of Labor Castillo
told LabAtt that it appears that law enforcement authorities
are not coordinating their actions well with the GOG
institutions involved in the Mesa, and pledged to try to
encourage that coordination. Mota and Lopez were released on
bail on April 22.

Labor: Legislative Reforms
--------------


7. (U) Labor Code reforms pending before the last Congress
were sent to the Congressional Labor Commission for review
where they remain pending. The Commission has met with
unions, business (CACIF),FRG Congressional deputies, members
of the labor judiciary, and women's groups, among others.
Vice Minister of Labor Castillo told LabAtt on April 22 that
he believes Congress will eventually pass the reforms without
change, with the possible exceptions of sexual harassment and
universal severance initiatives. Labor Minister Gallardo
told LabAtt April 29 that he would submit the reforms for
further discussion in the tripartite labor commission he
chairs.
TIP: DHS Provides Anti-TIP Training
--------------


8. (U) During the week of March 22-26 DHS provided 10
half-day anti-TIP seminars to a total of 376 representatives
from the National Civilian Police, Civil Aviation
Directorate, Office of the Prosecutor for Crimes Against
Women, Police Information Service, Solicitor General's
Office, Foreign Ministry, Judicial Unit for Children and
Adolescents, Immigration Directorate, and airport security.
The seminar provided information distinguishing TIP from
alien smuggling, on victim recognition, and how to combat TIP
while protecting victims. MFA sources also tell us the GOG
is developing its own training program for a special PNC task
force to deal specifically with TIP cases.

TIP: Recent Enforcement Efforts
--------------


9. (U) With varying degrees of success, the GOG is starting
to take actions against TIP and to work in coordinated law
enforcement actions. Casa Alianza representatives have been
attending anti-TIP raids at the invitation of authorities, to
help identify and provide services to TIP victims.

-- Immigration, Public Ministry prosecutors and 150 PNC had
conducted a coordinated operation targeting gang members near
the Mexican border in Tecun Uman, and San Marcos province on
March 5. A total of 31 illegal migrants (20 Honduran, 10
Salvadorans, and 1 Mexican) were arrested; 8 reportedly fit
the profile of gang members, but no TIP victims were
discovered.

-- On March 10, the Minors Section of the National Civilian
Police's (PNC) Criminal Investigative Service (SIC) arrested
Oscar Emerito Cabeza Garcia, a 24 year-old Salvadoran running
the "Cocoloco International" club in Zone 19 of the capital,
and rescued three Salvadoran minors being held for
prostitution and 5 Salvadoran adult prostitutes. The adults
were deported, and the minors were turned over to the courts.
-- On April 13 police arrested the manager of a Villa Nueva
massage parlor and rescued three 16-year-old minors (one
Guatemalan and two Hondurans) from that establishment. The
22-year-old manager was charged with migration violations and
TIP.

-- Press reported on April 14 the return to Nicaragua of a
17-year-old Nicaraguan who had reportedly been prostituted
and sequestered in a bar in Antigua. The girl's name was not
reported (in an article reprinted here with a byline from AFP
in Managua),and authorities claim no knowledge of the case.

-- Coordinated raids were conducted in Peten province on
April 17, leading to deportations of adult sex workers but
did not find victims of TIP.

TIP: Solicitor General to Combat TIP
--------------


10. (U) On April 18, the Solicitor General Ricardo Rosales
announced a new agreement with Guatemala City Mayor Arzu to
develop a plan to rescue street kids (and possible TIP
victims) from exploitation by panhandling rings.

TIP: Legislation Update
--------------


11. (U) On May 5 the GOG published in the daily register
Guatemala's Instrument of Adhesion to the Protocols of the UN
Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. The
protocols, "Against the Smuggling of Migrants" and "To
Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons," were
approved by Congress on August 19, 2003; the Instrument was
signed by President Portillo on February 4, 2004 and
deposited with the Secretary General of the UN on April 1,

2004. The Protocols entered into force on May 1, 2004.


12. (SBU) There are several different reforms proposed to
the Guatemalan Penal Code to bring it into conformity with
the TIP Protocol mentioned above. The ILO's proposal, which
includes increased penalties for TIP and TIP-related crimes
is awaiting approval by different ministries in the Security
Cabinet before being signed by the President and sent to
Congress. Meanwhile, other reform proposals on the same
subject are already pending before Congress. The
Congressional Legislative Secretariat will send competing
proposals to the Family and Minors Committee, which may
choose among them or integrate them before emitting an
opinion.

TIP: AID Prevention and Victims Project
--------------

13. (U) AID has recently proposed a $1.2 million 3-year
project to prevent and protect victims of TIP in Guatemala.
The purpose of the project would be to support the
development of regional, national, and local networks to
prevent trafficking in persons, and to protect and
reintegrate trafficking victims. It would also seek to
prevent victims from being re-trafficked, and facilitate the
development and implementation of policies and laws related
to trafficking in persons. This approach is designed to
create a sustainable response to TIP by fortifying existing
institutions and to step up the response to trafficking in
persons in Central America and Mexico.
HAMILTON