[Marxism] FW: URGENT--U.S. Unionist Assassinated in El Salvador

["Charlie Parks" <jcparks5550@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: nlc@xxxxxxxxxx
> To: john.c.parks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: URGENT--U.S. Unionist Assassinated in El Salvador
> Date: 09 Nov 2004 17:13:48 -0500
>
>
> To: National Labor Committee Contacts
> From: Charles Kernaghan
> Re: Urgent Action Alert/Please Help
>
> U.S. TRADE UNIONIST ASSASSINATED IN El SALVADOR
> -A Friend of the National Labor Committee
>
> Mr. Gilberto Soto was assassinated Friday evening, November
> 5, at 6:00 p.m., while visiting his mother in the city of
> Usulutan, El Salvador.
>
> Mr. Soto received a call on his cell phone and had just
> stepped outside the doorway of his mother's home, searching
> for better reception, when he was approached by two men who
> shot and killed him at close range. He was shot in the upper
> back and on the lower side, near the kidney. It was this
> shot which severed his aorta, the major artery to the heart.
> He died immediately.
>
> The killers fled, running to a car waiting about 100 yards
> away. There may also have been a third assailant on a bike.
>
> There was absolutely no attempt to rob Mr. Soto. It was
> clear that the sole intent was to kill him. There were
> several eye witnesses.
>
> Mr. Gilberto Soto was a long time organizer with the
> International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). Based in New
> Jersey, he was in charge of organizing port container
> drivers in the northeast of the U.S. He was currently
> involved in organizing drivers in Elizabeth, N.J.
>
> Less than a year ago, Mr. Soto met in New York City with
> Denmark's SID Union (The Specialized Workers Union in
> Denmark) Central American Representative, Bjarne Larsen. The
> IBT and SID were interested in collaborating on a joint
> project documenting the systematic violations of worker
> rights by Maersk, one of the largest shipping companies in
> the world.
>
> Mr. Soto was just about to begin his organizing work in
> Central America when he was assassinated. He was going to
> meet with port workers in El Salvador, Honduras and
> Nicaragua. However, his real interest was to meet with and
> assist the drivers who hauled Maersk containers. In El
> Salvador, the working conditions are horrible, with
> excessive shifts and low wages. The drivers have absolutely
> no right to organize, and any hint of workers trying to
> exercise their legal right to Freedom of Association would
> be met with mass firings. The drivers are paid for only the
> hours they are on the road. A trip from a free trade zone in
> El Salvador to Puerto Cortez in Honduras could take seven-
> to-nine hours. Then there would be all the down time for
> which they are not paid, followed by another long haul back
> to El Salvador.
>
> In Honduras, about 700 of the container drivers are
> organized, and a much smaller group was just newly organized
> in Nicaragua.
>
> Weeks had gone into preparing for Mr. Soto's trip. Many
> emails had gone back and forth, and many drivers had been
> approached and spoken with. It is possible that word leaked
> out.
>
> Mr. Gilberto Soto's family in El Salvador will not be
> frightened. They are calling for a full investigation.
>
> Mr. Soto's sister told us: "We need an investigation. This
> murder did not just happen. There is something behind this.
> We demand justice in this country (El Salvador), where there
> is so little justice."
>
> Mr Gilberto Soto would have been 50 years old on Saturday,
> November 6, the day after he was assassinated. He leaves
> behind a 25 year old son. His mother and sister are
> accompanying his body from El Salvador to the U.S. this
> Thursday.
>
> Mr. Soto was born in El Salvador and immigrated to the U.S.
> in 1975. His family says that Gilberto had no enemies in
> Usulatan. It was quite the opposite, he was loved and
> respected.
>
> Starting in the mid 1980's, Mr. Gilberto Soto was a long
> term collaborator with the National Labor Committee,
> participating in several of our campaigns. While we were on
> the road for the last five weeks with a tour of young
> Bangladesh workers, Gilberto called us. He asked us to help
> the exploited containers drivers in El Salvador, and we said
> we would. We were to speak later this week.
>
> More than ever, the NLC intends to go ahead with that
> solidarity, and we ask your help.
>
> If they can assassinate a U.S. citizen and trade union
> leader in El Salvador, we can only imagine the repression
> the Salvadoran workers are facing on a daily basis. This is
> another tragic example of how CAFTA (Central American Free
> Trade Agreement) will continue to fail the workers in
> Central America and the U.S. While CAFTA goes out of its way
> to provide all sorts legal protection to the product, there
> are no similar enforceable laws backed up by sanctions to
> defend the rights of the human being and workers who made
> the product.
>
> We need to continue the struggle for worker rights
> protections in Central America and in the U.S. But first we
> need an immediate and thorough investigation to get to the
> truth of why and who killed Mr. Soto. As a first step,
> please write to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
> demanding a full investigation. (A model letter is
> attached).
>
> Please visit the NLC website (www.nlcnet.org) for updates.
>
> MODEL LETTER:
>
>
> DATE
>
> General Colin L. Powell, Secretary of State
> Department of State
> 2201 C St., NW
> Washington, DC 20520
>
> Fax: 202-647-2283
>
>
> Dear Secretary Powell:
>
> A United States Citizen and trade union leader, Mr. Gilberto
> Soto, was assassinated in Usulutan, El Salvador on Friday
> evening, November 5.  Two men who shot Mr. Soto in the back,
> at close range, before fleeing to a waiting car.  There was
> absolutely no attempt to rob Mr. Soto, and according to eye
> witness accounts, it was clear that the sole intent was to
> kill him.
>
> Mr. Soto, who was born in El Salvador, was a longtime union
> organizer with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
> in charge of working with port drivers on the northeast
> coast of the United States.  Mr. Soto was in Central America
> to meet with port workers and the drivers who haul
> containers for the Maersk shipping line and other companies
> in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.  I strongly believe
> that Mr. Soto was assassinated to prevent his meeting with
> and providing solidarity to these exploited port drivers.
> The container drivers in El Salvador work under very abusive
> conditions, forced to work excessively long shifts for
> little pay.  The Salvadoran drivers are also systematically
> denied their legal right to freedom of association.
> Everyone knows that any attempt to organize would be met
> with mass firings.
>
> I urge you to intervene with the President of El Salvador to
> demand an immediate and thorough investigation of why Mr.
> Gilberto Soto was killed, and by whom.  I also request that
> sufficient U.S. resources and personnel be made available to
> monitor this investigation.  Certainly out of respect for
> Mr. Soto, there should also be an investigation into the
> systematic violation of labor rights faced by El Salvador's
> port workers--especially in light of the pending Central
> America Free Trade Agreement.  If a U.S. citizen and union
> leader can be assassinated in El Salvador, one can only
> imagine the repression and threats the Salvadoran workers
> must face on a daily basis.
>
> Thank you for your efforts to see that genuine justice is
> done for Mr. Soto and his family, and for all decent
> Americans who value respect for fundamental human and
> workers' rights.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
>
> CC: Elías Antonio Saca González, President of the Republic
> of El Salvador
>
>
>
>
> ********************************************************
> This is a message from the National Labor Committee.
> If you have received this update from a friend,
> please visit http://www.nlcnet.org/listserv.asp
> to be added to the list.
>
> --
> National Labor Committee
> 540 West 48th Street, 3rd Fl.
> New York, NY 10036
> phone: (212) 242-3002
> fax:   (212) 242-3821
> www.nlcnet.org



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