US embassy cable - 03GUATEMALA2586

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUATEMALA 002586 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC (C. ROE) AND DRL/IL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB, PGOV, PHUM, GT 
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA LABOR/TIP UPDATE #6-2003 
 
 
1.  Summary:  Following is an update of significant recent 
developments in the labor sector and trafficking in persons. 
Topics include: 
 
-- GOG to Attend GSP Hearing 
 
-- Progress in Monzon Lima Murder Investigation? 
 
-- MOL Willing to Combat "Blacklisting" 
 
-- Ambassador to Speak at Labor Justice Forum 
 
-- Pending Legislative Reforms Status Update 
 
-- MOL Proposes Maquila Pact: Rejected 
 
-- TIP - DCM Preparatory Bilateral 
 
-- TIP - Nine Stolen Babies Returned from Costa Rica 
 
-- TIP - GOG Brothel Raids Find no TIP Victims 
 
End Summary. 
 
GOG to Attend GSP Hearing 
------------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU) On September 25 LabAtt attended a meeting of GOG's 
"Inter-institutional Labor Working Group," comprised of 
representatives of the Labor, Economy, and Foreign Affairs 
ministries; the Attorney General's Office and the judiciary 
to encourage the GOG to participate in the upcoming GSP 
hearings and to provide a substantive official response to 
the pending GSP petitions.  Minster of Labor Victor Moreira 
said Guatemalan Ambassador to Washington Antonio Arenales 
will attend the Oct. 7 GSP Public Hearing at USTR.  The GOG 
is considering responding to the petitions at three levels, 
he said:  1) to report and correct issues of fact, 2) to 
report new developments (he cited the Choi Shin case as an 
example) and, 3) where structural problems are acknowledged, 
to propose goals and indicators to be achieved and monitored 
by the Embassy. 
 
3.  (SBU) LabAtt told the group that while we have noted some 
advances, the USG continues to be concerned about unresolved 
cases of violence against trade unionists, which 
distinguishes Guatemala from its neighbors and contributed to 
USTR's decision to review the petitions.  The Special 
Prosecutor for Crimes Against Trade Unionists reported that 
he is offering protection to a key witness in the Monzon Lima 
murder case and hopes to use that witness to charge the main 
suspect in the case (see below).  LabAtt suggested that the 
GOG provide details on this case in its report to USTR and 
requested that the GOG include information about results of 
the Guzman Lanuza murder case (where the transfer of the case 
to another Special Prosecutor resulted in an arrest of the 
main suspect).  Cortez said he would consult with his 
colleagues and do so. 
 
4.  (SBU) LabAtt also expressed concern about delays in the 
labor justice system, and the need to reinstate workers 
illegally fired for unionization activities.  Supreme Court 
Magistrate Otto Marroquin described efforts by the judiciary 
to resolve labor cases but noted limitations on making labor 
court reinstallation decisions effective. 
 
Progress in Monzon Lima Murder Investigation? 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) On October 1, Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against 
Trade Unionists, Marco Antonio Cortez Sis, told LabAtt that a 
key witness implicating the intellectual author of the June 
22, 2000 murder of Oswaldo Monzon Lima, General Secretary of 
the Gas Distributors Transportation Union, had accepted the 
Public Ministry's offer of witness protection.  Cortez said 
an arrest of the prime suspect in the case, Mario Roberto 
Ortiz Barranco, could take place within the month.  (Comment: 
 the arrest of Ortiz would be a major milestone for the 
Special Prosecutor, who has been largely ineffective to date. 
 End Comment.) 
 
MOL Willing to Combat "Blacklisting" 
------------------------------------ 
 
6.  (SBU) On September 30, LabAtt accompanied two ex-DYMEL 
workers to meet with Labor Vice Minister Antonio Monzon. 
Miguel Angel Rivera and Wilson Pineda, both qualified 
welders, described their own efforts and those of other union 
members in the DYMEL dispute to find jobs in the construction 
industry.  Those efforts have been largely thwarted by the 
existence of an internet-based blacklist of the 71 unionized 
ex-DYMEL workers.  (Note:  some ex-DYMEL workers have found 
jobs, but members of the union's executive board, including 
Rivera and Willy Hernandez, have had a tougher time finding 
work, and when they are contracted, they have been fired 
without explanation after a day or two.  LabAtt expressed 
concern that this form of discrimination, if proven, violates 
fundamental labor rights.  Monzon accepted the workers' 
complaint, and called together his staff to investigate. 
(Comment:  One of the firms implicated in the blacklisting is 
PCCS, a subcontractor to Duke Energy.  LabAtt had alerted 
Duke to these allegations and provided the names of workers 
contracted and dismissed; Duke's representative promised to 
look into the case.  End Comment.) 
 
Ambassador to Speak at Labor Justice Forum 
------------------------------------------ 
7.  (U) The Ambassador has accepted an invitation from the 
National Sub-Commission to Strengthen the Labor Justice 
System to speak at a public event on October 8 marking 
publication of the sub-commission's proceedings.  Composed of 
representatives of the GOG, the judiciary, unions, academics, 
and the private sector, the sub-commission is a rare example 
of consensus building in a highly polarized society.  We hope 
it will provide a forum intent on making consensus-based 
reforms to the administration of the labor justice system, 
which is clogged and slow.  In the absence of consensus 
within this group on the Executive's proposed procedural code 
reform, which is pending in Congress, the emphasis has 
shifted to making non-legislative changes to improve the 
labor justice system. 
 
Pending Legislative Reforms Status Update 
----------------------------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU) Labor Vice Minister Antonio Monzon claimed on 
September 30 that the FRG leadership in Congress will act on 
pending labor reforms when it can achieve a quorum, which is 
difficult during this election campaign period.  The reforms, 
submitted in May as four separate bills, have been combined 
into one, which includes articles which: 
 
-- prohibit child labor for children under the age of 14 and 
fine (not less than $2500) employers who violate this 
prohibition, 
 
-- define and prohibit the worst forms of child labor, and 
define the conditions of legal labor by minors under age 18, 
 
-- define and require an administrative fine for sexual 
harassment, 
 
-- mandate the formation of a joint management-worker 
committee to investigate allegations of sexual harassment in 
the workplace, to determine measures to immediately stop the 
harassment, 
 
-- require employers who fire workers without cause to give 
the fired worker the option of reinstallation or a severance 
payment, 
 
-- require employers to pay a worker who quits an amount 
equivalent to what that worker would received if fired 
without cause, 
 
-- close the exemption on rights and benefits of domestic 
workers, 
 
-- allow complainants to request that a labor court judge 
embargo employer assets at the outset of hearings, 
 
- mandate an oral hearing on cases within two months of a 
complaint, 
 
-- require employers of foreign workers to pay a monetary 
contribution for training Guatemalans. 
 
9.  (SBU) Guido Ricci, a labor lawyer for the main employers 
association (CACIF), told LabAtt on October 1 that the 
private sector originally decided not to oppose the pending 
labor reforms, but now objects to giving workers fired 
without cause the right to reinstallation in lieu of 
severance benefits.  This provision (inserted by the 
government to mollify union critics who worried universal 
severance would make it easier for employers to lay off 
workers) would restrict employers' rights to control the size 
of their labor force.  With the prospect of a CAFTA which 
might prohibit any changes to labor legislation that limit 
labor rights, employers cannot risk having Congress approve 
this provision, he said.  Nevertheless, CACIF has not decided 
how to react publicly should the Congress take up the new 
draft bill.  (Note:  Ricci implied that CACIF did not want to 
be lured into public rejection of a bill, which the FRG would 
argue promotes labor rights, during the election campaign 
period.  End Note.) 
MOL Proposes Maquila Labor Pact 
------------------------------- 
 
10.  (SBU) Minister of Labor Moreira told LabAtt that 
Guatemalan labor law permits industry-wide collective 
bargaining agreements to be negotiated with unions 
representing 2/3 of all unionized workers in that sector. 
(Note:  the requirement to organize an industrial union is 
different: 50% plus one of all workers in the sector.  End 
Note.)  Moreira said he intended to propose that VESTEX, the 
maquila employer association, which represents over 2/3 of 
the companies in that sector, enter into voluntary 
negotiations with the Choi Shin/Cimatextiles unions to 
achieve such a pact, which are the only unions which 
currently exist in the sector.  Vice Labor Minister Monzon 
subsequently told LabAtt that the Minister had made the 
proposal to VESTEX, and it was rejected.  Comment:  This was 
vintage Moreira--audacious and seemingly intended to provoke 
the rejection of the private sector.  End Comment. 
 
TIP - DCM Preparatory Bilateral 
------------------------------ 
 
11.  (SBU)  On October 1, the DCM and LabAtt attended a 
meeting with MFA bilateral affairs officers and Mario Rene 
Cifuentes, the Foreign Minister's advisor on security issues, 
to request a meeting of the bilateral working group on 
trafficking in persons proposed in July by the GOG. 
Cifuentes offered to produce a draft "matrix" of benchmark 
goals that both governments share.  The DCM provided text of 
President Bush's UNGA speech and urged the GOG to make 
progress developing cases against traffickers.  The MFA 
officers requested a tri-lateral meeting of immigration 
officials from the US, Mexico and Guatemala to share ideas 
about border controls, with a possible emphasis on 
trafficking in persons.  They also requested a USG 
participant to give a briefing on TIP at an upcoming 
(unscheduled) series of seminars it will offer its own staff 
on the broad theme of migration.  The DCM said we would look 
forward to reviewing the matrix next week. 
 
TIP - Nine Stolen Babies Returned to Guatemala 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
12.  (U) Press reported the repatriation of nine babies 
allegedly destined for illegal adoption in Costa Rica for up 
to $80,000 each.  A Guatemalan woman and Carlos Hernan 
Robles, a Costa Rican banker, were allegedly detained by 
Costa Rican authorities in the scheme. 
 
TIP - GOG Brothel Raids Find no TIP Victims 
------------------------------------------- 
 
13.  (SBU) DHS officer met in September with the Oscar 
Contreras, the Director General of Immigration, to request 
cooperation to investigate cases of TIP.  Contreras agreed to 
do so, and coordinated a raid on brothels with the national 
police and Public Ministry on September 10.  The 25 women, 
mostly Salvadoran and Honduran, denied to DHS interviewers 
that they were victims of TIP (i.e. forced or tricked into 
prostitution).  DCM will meet with Contreras on October 7 to 
request further efforts to combat TIP. 
HAMILTON