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27 May, 2010
The ICEM condemns the brutal and unprovoked attack by Mexican Federal Police on members of the National Union of Mine, Metal, Steel and Related Workers (SNTMMSSRM) in the city of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán on May 23. According to the Union and press reports, police fired on, detained and brutally beat some 20 union members, including the Union’s Special Delegate for the State of Michoacán, Mario García Ortíz.
The ICEM views this as a direct attack on the autonomy of the SNTMMSSRM, especially considering that Mario García Ortíz is the Alternate Secretary General of the Union and served as President of the Union’s 36th Ordinary General Convention, held May 3-5 in Mexico City, at which representatives of the ICEM and its US and Canadian affiliates were present.
This attack reminds us that two members of the SNTMMSSRM were killed and over a hundred injured in another attack by federal and state police in the same city on April 20, 2006. Despite a clear finding of state responsibility by the National Human Rights Commission, no one has been prosecuted for these killings.
The ICEM calls on the Mexican Federal Government to:
● grant legal acknowledgement (toma de nota) to Napoleón Gómez and should recognize the results of the Union’s 36th General Ordinary Convention, held in May 2010
● support the inter-party agreement in the Chamber of Deputies (Punto de Acuerdo) of 28 April 2010 regarding the strikes at Cananea and other Grupo México mines, and should enter into good faith negotiations with the Union.
● drop the baseless criminal charges against Napoleón Gómez and other union leaders, all of which have been dismissed by the courts, and withdraw its appeals of these dismissals.
● immediately release Juan Linares Montufar, President of the Union’s Vigilance and Justice Commission, from prison.
● comply with repeated court orders to lift the freeze imposed on the Union’s bank accounts.
● investigate and prosecute the persons responsible for the murders of four union members since 2006 and the latest attack on workers in Lázaro Cárdenas.