US Members of Congress Call on Mexican Government to Conduct Throrough Investigation of Union Activist's Murder

For Immediate Release                   
Contact: Esmeralda Aguilar (202) 637-5018

U.S. Members of Congress Call on Mexican Government to Conduct Thorough Investigation of Union Activist's Murder

(Washington, D.C., May 8) - Today, a group of U.S. Representatives, led by Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), sent a letter to Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Nuevo Leon Governor Jose González, on the brutal murder of worker rights' activist Santiago Rafael Cruz.  "We hope that the Mexican government, in collaboration with the state government of Nuevo Leon, will do everything in its power to ensure a professional and thorough investigation of this tragedy, and that those responsible will be found and dealt with quickly and fairly, " the letter says.

On April 9, Santiago Rafael Cruz, an organizer with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), was brutally murdered at the FLOC office in Monterrey, Mexico.  Mr. Cruz had moved to Monterrey to help organize Mexican farm workers bound for the United States under a guest-worker program.  FLOC, an AFL-CIO affiliate, represents thousands of Mexican nationals who travel to the United States each year for seasonal work.

The FLOC office in Monterrey was established in 2005 to help educate Mexican workers about their rights before they arrive in the United States.  FLOC helps workers enforce their rights under a collective bargaining agreement that the union signed with the North Carolina agricultural growers in 2005.  Prior to this agreement, many Mexican workers were exploited in a corrupt system riddled with bribing contractors and middlemen.  Under U.S. law, the employers must pay the costs of paperwork and transportation, but some recruiters were illegally charging workers for those expenses.

According to the letter, "FLOC's efforts to improve the system and protect laborers brought it into conflict with those Mexican Labor recruiters who take advantage of workers by charging hundreds of dollars for access to jobs in the United States.  Since being awarded the contract and opening the Monterrey office, FLOC has been subject to intimidation, robberies, vandalism, and threats of physical violence."

"Much to our disappointment, we fear that Mr. Cruz was beaten and murdered in conjunction or potentially as a direct result of FLOC's work to bring change to an exploitative labor system," the letter states.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington has called on the Mexican government to take urgent measures to protect the safety of FLOC workers in Mexico. U.S. Representatives are planning to visit Monterrey to investigate Mr. Cruz's murder.

For a copy of the letter, call (202) 637-5018.