Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO

SANTIAGO RAFAEL CRUZ
1977-2007

On April 9, FLOC lost Santiago Rafael, an organizer who was viciously tortured and murdered in the union's offices in Mexico.

Santiago Rafael was a FLOC staff field organizer, working on a number of FLOC efforts and campaigns in Ohio and North Carolina. In February, Santiago joined the FLOC office in Monterrey México. His job involved helping farm workers going to work in the U.S., investigating and helping resolve grievances concerning abuses in the recruiting systems and employment conditions, and managing the office administration. He was staying in an upstairs room of the office while looking for permanent housing.

Santiago was found tied up and beaten to death in the FLOC office. Testimony by witnesses who found the body indicate that Santiago was tortured by more than one individual in the early hours of the morning and that the office showed no sign of forced entry or robbery.

Who could have done such a vicious act? One motive for this brutal murder is the impacts FLOC has had in cleaning up the corruption in the recruiting system for farmworkers going North. In FLOC labor agreements, "guest workers" have their own direct voice in their own working rights, and FLOC has an effective process where we can work with some 600 growers to address any problems and misunderstandings at the work site.

In 2005, FLOC opened an office in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, to ensure union members in Mexico had an immediate resource for information about their recruitment, problems with visas, and arrangements for working in the U.S. FLOC members soon began making complaints about problems with different labor recruitment systems in Mexico. They have reported field agents and con artists have approached those wanting to work legally in the U.S. to support their families, and have charged bribes and excessive fees just to be recruited. Not only have some people been scammed out of their money and passports, but many workers arrived in the U.S. already in debt, some having mortgaged their small farms and homes.

One FLOC response was to arrange for employers to pay the costs of recruiting H2A workers from Mexico. This new process undercuts the corruption that has lined the pockets of those involved in the labor recruitment systems. This has broad implications for the labor rights of all "guest workers". In March 2007, FLOC President Baldemar Velásquez conducted training sessons for members in Mexico, and told them to report anyone trying to charge them for being recruited into the H2A program. A week later, Santiago was assassinated.

Since opening the office in Monterrey, there has been constant harassment of the FLOC operations in Mexico. The office has been broken into several times, files and equipment were destroyed, and FLOC staff have been intimidated and threatened. FLOC operations in Mexico have also constantly been attacked in the local media for "destabilizing" Mexican businesses (labor recruiters). The hostile relationship over contentious recruiting practices has made our work in Mexico tense, and now we face the brutal murder of Santiago Rafael.

FLOC filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which found there was sufficient evidence that Santiago's murder was a part of a larger context of hosility towards FLOC. The IACHR ordered the Mexican government to provide security measures for FLOC personnel in Mexico. See IACHR Approves Petition.

Despite some 100,000 letters and messages from all over the world sent to the Government of Nuevo Leon, which has been responsible for the investigation of Santiago's vicious assassination, state authorities have clearly demonstrated that they have no intention of pursuing possible political and economic motives in the case, and has proven to be both incompetent and evasive in the investigation.

FLOC leaders, staff, and supporters who worked with Santiago know him as a cheerful person concerned with the human and working rights of immigrants. We are all shocked and devastated by his vicious murder, but this brutal act will not intimidate FLOC into abandoning our operations in Mexico. Santiago's years of service defending the rights of fellow Mexicans who work the fields in the United States and Mexico will not be forgotten and will not be in vain. The FLOC offices in Mexico are being renamed the Santiago Rafael Cruz Justice Center, a reminder to FLOC members, FLOC supporters, and even to Santiago's murderers that we will always be here in the struggle for justice.

For more background on the assassination of Santiago Rafael, see:

• We Remember Santiago Rafael
• FLOC President Baldemar Velásquez statement on police investigation
• AFL-CIO President John Sweeney Condemns Murder of U.S. Trade Unionist in Mexico
• Letter from U.S. Representatives to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
• Resolution by the Toledo City Council on the murder of Santiago Rafael
• Assassins and Their Employers in Mexico.

Santiago Rafael Cruz, PRESENTE!

ACTION

In honor of Santiago's sacrifice and commitment to justice, the FLOC office in Mexico has been renamed the
Santaigo Rafael Cruz Justice Center. His mother, Epifania Cruz was present for the dedication.

The Government of Nuevo Leon has demonstated that it has little interest or intent in investigating who may have been behind the Santiago's vicious assassination. Therefore, we are asking the Mexicion national government to take over the investigation.

Please write Mexican President Felipe Calderón to call for an open and thorough investigation of the assassination of Santigo.

Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de "Los Pinos", Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
México D.F. 11850
México
Fax from the U.S.: (011-52) (55) 52-77-23-76, 52-77-23-76

A sample of a letter sent to President Calderón is:

Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de “Los Pinos”, Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
México D.F. 11850
México

Dear President Calderon:

I am writing to protest the incompetent and devious investigation by the Government of Nuevo Leon of the vicious assassination of Santiago Rafael Cruz. Santiago was a union organizer for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee AFLCIO who defended the human and labor rights of Mexican farmworkers going to the United States. He was brutally tortured and murdered in the FLOC offices in Monterrey on April 9. Following the assassination, the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights found sufficient evidence that the murder was politically motivated, and issued a protective order for FLOC staff and members in Mexico.

The government of Nuevo Leon has clearly demonstrated that it is not serious in the investigation of the assassination of Santiago Rafael. The Nuevo Leon government has not even considered investigating political motives in the murder. Instead, it has made unsubstantiated public statements with no evidence to support allegations, and has continually evaded the questions of FLOC lawyers. Eventually, the authorities announced that they had detained a minor criminal, Jaime Martinez Amador, accusing him of the murder. Even more relevant is that the "confession" was apparently obtained under torture, which is particularly shocking in a human rights case. A few days before his resignation under charges of ties to drug cartels, the Secretary General of the Nuevo Leon government stated to U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur that "there is no political motive" in the case, even though the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights issued its protective order on the basis of such evidence.

Given the unwillingness of the Nuevo Leon government to pursue a legitimate investigation, the staff and members of FLOC in Mexico cannot feel safe. Any resolution of the murder of Santiago Rafael Cruz's murder has to provide a satisfactory resolution for FLOC, as is the intention of the protective order of the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights.

Therefore, I respectfully request that the Mexican federal government take the following steps:

1. The Government of Mexico take over the investigation of the vicious murder of Santiago Rafael Cruz, which it is entitled to do in a human rights case. We ask that the investigation focus on political motives for the murder, particularly the corruption in the recruitment of Mexican migrant workers, which is in violation of Mexican national labor laws.
2. That the Mexican National Commission on Human Rights investigate the case of torture of Jaime Martinez Amador in his "confession" to the murder of Santiago Rafael Cruz. This is necessary so that the investigation of Santiago's assassination will not be confused by misleading and corrupt accusations.
3. The Government of Mexico reinforce efforts to protect the personnel and members of FLOC in Mexico, as is the intention of the protective order of the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights.

For more information, see: