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[Marxism] Fwd: [radcaucus] Urgent Request for Solidarity from FLOC



Begin forwarded message:

From: Michael Hale <csun_michael@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: April 14, 2007 12:04:33 PM EDT
To: radcaucus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [radcaucus] Urgent Request for Solidarity from FLOC
Reply-To: radcaucus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dear friends,

Below is an urgent request for solidarity. The Farm Labor Organizing Committee is a union in the AFL-CIO that represents migrant farmworkers in the mid west, south, and Mexico. You can learn more about the union and the recent brutal murder of Santiago Rafael Cruz at www.floc.com.

Please circulate this email to all of your lists.

I thought RC members would be interested in writing a letter. I have been working with FLOC and helping them with communications since I moved to Toledo, Ohio a few months ago along with teaching English at Owens Community College.

Solidarity,
Michael Hale

Last Monday, Santiago Rafael was found in the Farm Labor Organizing Committee's Mexico office tied up and beaten to death. Santiago had been a FLOC organizer in Ohio, had helped with several North Carolina organizing activities, and had started in January as the administrator for the FLOC office in Monterrey, helping workers get their visas processed, investigating worker complaints, and fighting for worker and immigrant rights. The brutal murder of Santiago further emphasizes the need for FLOC to continue its fight for justice for immigrant workers. We will have regular updates about Santiago's case on our website at http://www.floc.com.

Please pass on this action and related information to your contacts and networks.

Thank you for your continued support of FLOC in our time of mourning for the brutal murder of our friend and companion in the fight for justice for immigrant workers.

Hasta La Victoria!

Baldemar Velasquez
President of FLOC

ACTION

1. Contact the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (http:// www.cidh.oas.org/):

We are asking all FLOC supporters and organizations who are deeply affected by the brutal murder of Santiago Rafael Cruz to call or fax the Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Santiago Canton, and encourage the IACHR to investigate the murder of Santiago Rafael Cruz. The IACHR will consider Santiago's case this coming Monday.

If the IACHR accepts the case, it has the power to compel the Mexican government to provide security for the FLOC office in Monterrey and for all FLOC staff operating in Mexico. This would be a major step forward in insuring a speedy investigation and helping FLOC prevent tragedies like this in the future.

A FAX is most effective, but if you do not this capability you can call, email, or write a letter to the IACHR. Send your message to:

Dr. Santiago Canton, Executive Secretary
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
1889 F St., NW, Washington, D.C., USA 20006.
E-mail: cidhoea@xxxxxxx
Telephone: (202)458-6002
Fax: (202) 458-3992

Ask the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to take on the murder of Santiago Rafael Cruz as an official case. Points to make are:
* Santiago Rafael has been involved in the struggle for the human rights of immigrant workers in the U.S. for years.
* The brutal nature of his murder in the offices of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee AFL-CIO in Monterrey Mexico indicates that this murder has serious human rights implications for Mexican workers coming to work in the U.S.
* A thorough investigation of Santiago's murder is needed to reveal those forces involved in the abuses of "guest workers" bound for the U.S., particularly in the recruiting system.
* This is an international human rights issue, involving both Mexico and the United States.

Be sure to send a copy to FLOC at mhale@xxxxxxxx, so we can follow up with the IACHR.

2. Contact the Mexican Ambassador to the United States:

Please write to the Mexican Ambassador expressing your outrage at the murder of Santiago Rafael Cruz and demanding a rapid, thorough, and professional investigation of his murder, and bringing Santiago's murderers to justice.

Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan
Mexican Embassy
1911 Pennsylvania AV, NW
Washington D.C. 20006
Tel: (202) 728-1600
Internet message at: http://portal.sre.gob.mx/usa/index.php? option=contact&Itemid=6

Ask the Ambassador to ensure that the Mexican government conducts a thorough and open investigation of the brutal murder of FLOC organizer Santiago Rafael Cruz in Monterrey. Points to make are:
* The Farm Labor Organizing Committee AFL-CIO has a long record as a grass-roots leader in the immigrant rights movement in the U.S. FLOC organizer Santiago Rafael had been involved in the struggle for the human rights of immigrant workers in the U.S. for years. Santiago's murder is a critical challenge to protecting Mexican workers in the U.S.
* The brutal nature of his murder in the offices of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee AFL-CIO in Monterrey Mexico indicates that this murder has serious implications for Mexican workers coming to work in the U.S., particularly in the recruiting system for "guest workers".
* A thorough investigation of Santiago's murder is needed to reveal those forces involved in the abuses of Mexican workers in the U.S., particularly in the recruiting system in Mexico itself.
* This case has serious implications for international human rights issue, involving both Mexico and the United States.

Be sure to send a copy to FLOC at mhale@xxxxxxxx, so we can follow up with the Mexican government.




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