The ITUC strongly condemns the death threats made against the Bishop of San Marcos. On 31 March 2008 a nun in the city of San
Marcos was stopped while driving her car by unknown individuals who used
threatening behaviour and demanded that she deliver a death threat to
Monsignor Álvaro Ramazzini, Bishop of San Marcos.
This is yet another act of intimidation against representatives of the
Church and in particular against Monsignor Álvaro Ramazzini, chair of the
Episcopal Conference of Guatemala and the Catholic Church's representative
on the High Level Commission, formed to find agreements and strategies to
tackle the thorny question of metal mining and the granting of licences in
violation of ILO Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples. Land is a
highly conflictual and dangerous issue in Guatemala with some very
recalcitrant landowners who oppose any questioning of their interests.
Msgr. Ramazzini had opted firmly for helping the poor, unemployed peasants
in his San Marcos diocese who have no access to land and had been working
closely with human rights, trade union, indigenous and community
organisations.
Msgr. Ramazzine was one of the keynote speakers at the ITUC's conference on
the role of trade union organisations in the fight against impunity, held
from 29 to 31 January 2008 in Guatemala City.
The international trade union movement is following events in Guatemala
closely and has offered President Álvaro Colom its support in the struggle
to establish the rule of law, under which the human and trade union rights
are fully respected. On 1 April the ITUC general secretary wrote to Dr.
Juan Somavia, director general of the International Labour Organisation
(ILO), to ask him to lobby the United Nations and other international bodies
for firm political support for the International Conference Against Impunity
in Guatemala (CICIG), a key institution in the fight against impunity.
In a letter addressed to President Álvaro Colom protesting at this serious
incident
(http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/Protesta_amenazas_de_muerte_contra_Monsenor
_Ramazzini.pdf ), Guy Ryder, general secretary of the ITUC, has asked the
Guatemalan authorities to carry out immediately a full and impartial
investigation into this latest death threat against Monsignor Ramazzini (a
plan to assassinate him was discovered - fortunately in time -- in 2005) in
order to find those intellectually responsible, bring them to justice and
apply the sanctions foreseen by law. Guy Ryder also asked "that the
necessary measures be taken to guarantee the safety and physical integrity
of Monsignor Álvaro Ramazzini and to ensure that such threats cannot be
carried out in a Guatemala where all citizens can freely enjoy their
fundamental rights."
