US embassy cable - 04GUATEMALA1320

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUATEMALA 001320 
 
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 
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA LABOR/TIP UPDATE #4-2004 
 
REF: A. GUATEMALA 1124 
 
     B. STATE 59844 
 
1.  (SBU) The following is an update of significant recent 
developments in the labor sector and trafficking in persons 
(TIP).  Topics include: 
 
-- TIP:  GOG Enforcement Efforts Gaining Traction 
 
-- TIP:  Police Corruption Investigation 
 
-- TIP:  First Conviction Lightly Fined 
 
-- TIP:  Legislation Update 
 
-- TIP:  Kiddy Porn On Streets of Guatemala City 
 
-- TIP:  Papal Nuncio Pledges Cooperation 
 
-- Labor:  ILO Direct Contacts Mission Visits 
 
-- Labor:  MOL Announces Mediation Center 
 
-- Labor:  Apparel Sector Highlights Labor Programs 
 
-- Child Labor:  National Commission Formed 
 
TIP:  GOG Enforcement Efforts Gaining Traction 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
2.  (U) Special Prosecutor for Women Sandra Zayas told 
LabAtt, HROff and PolIntern on May 26 that her special unit 
to combat TIP was starting to show results, despite resource 
constraints affecting the anti-TIP unit.  (Note:  We have 
requested G/TIP funding for support to the unit, which lacks 
transportation and office equipment.  End Note)  A recent 
series of raids on brothels had resulted in 17 arrests, 11 
minors rescued from prostitution, and 104 adult prostitutes 
turned over to Immigration for deportation.  A report 
provided listed the following results: 
 
-- 9 coordinated (Public Ministry/National Civilian 
Police/anti-TIP section of the Special Criminal Investigative 
Service, and the Immigration Directorate, Solicitor General's 
Office) operations to rescue victims and arrest traffickers 
in bars/brothels nationwide since March 5.  All but 
 
-- 141 adult prostitutes deported. 
 
-- 24 open investigations/prosecutions against 17 
traffickers, including two charged with TIP, 10 charged with 
corruption of minors, one charged with pimping, and four 
charged with hiring undocumented workers (some face a 
combination of charges). 
 
-- 11 minors (14-17) rescued from prostitution. 
 
LabAtt emphasized the need for more effective prosecution of 
traffickers, noting that the first conviction of a trafficker 
(charged with pimping a 13-year-old minor) resulted only in a 
$60 fine.  Sayas said that case and sentence, handled by a 
justice of the peace in Cuilapa, Santa Rosa province, 
occurred before her unit was up an running.  Weak laws and 
the tendency of judges to issue the minimum required sentence 
will complicate prosecutions, but her unit will do its best 
to convict traffickers, she said. 
 
In addition, there have several police actions (only one was 
organized by Zayas' unit) resulting in the rescue of minors 
in prostitution  in recent weeks: 
 
-- On May 14 on a raid at the Club Platinium in Guatemala 
City, agents of the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) 
found nine undocumented foreigners, one of whom was underage, 
and a Guatemalan minor, working as prostitutes.  The police 
arrested Angel Alfonso Silva, of Nicaragua, and the 
undocumented foreigners were turned over to Immigration 
authorities. 
 
-- May 19, police in Zone 6 of Guatemala City rescued two 
minors working in prostitution and arrested Edin Obdulio 
Hernandez Acabel, who is believed to be their pimp. 
Meanwhile, a raid on brothels at the Guatemala-Mexico border 
resulted in deportation proceedings against 36 undocumented 
adult women from Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras, and 
three undocumented adult men. 
 
-- On the night of May 21, Alexander Colop, the assistant 
Guatemalan Special Prosecutor for Women, acting upon 
intelligence provided by DHS, raided 6 bars in Retalhuleu and 
found ten female minors working in prostitution.  Five adults 
were arrested and jailed, thirteen adult prostitutes were 
turned over to immigration for deportation, and the minors 
are now being provided victim's services by the NGO, Casa 
Alianza. 
 
TIP:  Police Corruption Investigation 
------------------------------------- 
3.  (U) The May 14 raid on Club Platinium came as a result 
from information gathered from the investigation of Rudy 
Ranulfo Giron Lima, sub-commissioner of police, who was 
arrested along with several other police officer members of 
his 'gang' for the kidnapping of Luis Alfonso Sosa Lopez, the 
son of the President of the Bank of Guatemala.  Giron Lima is 
owner or co-owner of Club Platinium and another capital 
nightclub, Club Samba, which were subsequently raided by 
police.  The Vice Minister of Government subsequently 
suspended other four police officers who were reputed to be 
preferred clients at Giron Lima's clubs, and said they would 
be investigated to determine whether they had participated in 
any of the illicit activities at those clubs. 
TIP:  Kiddy Porn on Streets of Guatemala City 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
4.  (U) On May 26, major daily "Prensa Libre," reported that 
street vendors in downtown of Guatemala City were selling 
child porn DVDs featuring European or American children and 
adults performing sex acts.  Current law mandates a fine for 
production or sale of obscene material, without any 
distinction between child and adult material.  However, 
pending reforms would impose prison terms up to 12 years for 
the traffickers of these images.  This reform is pending 
before the Commission on Women, Minors and the Family of 
Congress, as is proposed legislation calling for stiffer 
penalties regarding the trafficking and prostitution of 
minors. 
TIP:  Legislative Update 
------------------------ 
 
5.  (SBU) ILO Child Labor project officer Berta Lidia Barco 
informed us that the ILO/IPEC penal code reforms, including 
stiffening sanctions for TIP, have been accepted for 
consideration by the Congressional Commission for Women, 
Children and the Family.  The Commission has meshed the ILO 
proposals with a pending reform bill promoted by the 
Coalition in Favor of Reducing Violence Against Women.  The 
Embassy has requested a copy of the reforms, which would also 
criminalize child pornography. 
 
TIP:  Papal Nuncio Pledges Cooperation 
-------------------------------------- 
 
6.  (SBU)  Per Ref B, LabAtt met on May 19 with Papal Nuncio 
Bruno Musaro to discuss USG and Embassy efforts to combat TIP 
in collaboration with the GOG, and our perception of the 
problem in Guatemala.  Musaro, who is recently-arrived in 
Guatemala, expressed interest in and support for USG efforts. 
 LabAtt described the Guatemalan Catholic Church's programs 
to assist victims of TIP run by the Pastoral Migration 
mission, which has shelters on the border with Mexico and in 
the capital.  Musaro expressed interest in learning more 
about these programs and willingness to consider future 
collaboration on efforts to combat the problem. 
 
Labor:  ILO Direct Contacts Mission Visit 
----------------------------------------- 
 
7.  (SBU) ILO Officials visited Guatemala May 18-21, at the 
invitation of the GOG (requested by the ILO Governing Body in 
March, 2003) to provide technical assistance to improve 
Guatemala's performance implementing ILO conventions on 
freedom of association and collective bargaining.  They met 
with the GOG Inter-Institutional Group on Labor Policy, 
coordinated by the MFA, the Special Prosecutor for Crimes 
Against Trade Unionists, and others, and visited union 
leaders Rigoberto Duenas and Victoriano Zacarias in jail, 
where they are being held without bond awaiting trial.  (On 
May 11 the judge denied Duenas' request for bail; he has been 
imprisoned awaiting trial since June 8, 2003.)  MFA 
Multilateral Affairs Director Carla Rodriguez and Vice 
Minister of Labor Castillo separately told LabAtt that the 
issues of interest to the mission tracked closely with USG 
interests, including progress to combat impunity, enforce 
labor law, and resolve historic labor cases involving 
unlawful firings of workers for unionizing activity. 
 
Labor:  Minister Announces Mediation Center 
------------------------------------------- 
 
8.  (U) On May 24, Minister of Labor Jorge Gallardo unveiled 
a program to establish a Center for the Alternate Resolution 
of Labor Conflicts in Guatemala.  The center, scheduled to be 
operating by the end of 2004, will permit workers or 
management to voluntarily bring disputes before an 
arbitration board.  Gallardo said the new center, to be 
developed by the Central American Economic Integration 
Secretariat (SIECA) and supported by USAID's PROALCA II labor 
 
SIPDIS 
capacity-building project, is designed to provide an 
alternative and not to replace the clogged and corrupt labor 
justice system.  Either party may avail themselves of the 
courts if not fully satisfied at any point in the process. 
The apparel sector association, VESTEX, which announced its 
own mediation center to open in September (reported Ref A), 
will share experiences with the new Center. 
 
Child Labor:  National Commission Formed 
---------------------------------------- 
 
9.  (U) On May 5, Jorge Luis Ortega, President of the 
Congressional Commission on Women, Children and the Family 
was selected by Congress as its official representative to 
the newly-formed National Commission of Childhood and 
Adolescence.  The creation of a National Commission was 
mandated in the Child Protection Law of June 2003, which 
includes child labor and other protections.  Ortega later 
announced that the First Lady's Secretariat of Social Work 
will be charged with securing resources for the National 
Commission.  The first task of the commission, which will be 
composed of representatives from the public sector and NGOs, 
will be to establish a set of governing rules to be approved 
by President Berger. 
HAMILTON