[cispes-ERN] Alert: Justice for Gilberto Soto

[CISPES National Office]

Dear Friends, 

 

With the passing of the second anniversary of the murder of Teamsters
activist and compañero of CISPES, Gilberto Soto, there have been renewed
calls for justice in his case.  This means the Salvadoran government must
reopen the investigation in El Salvador.  Please see below and sign onto the
petition to Condoleeza Rice and Salvadoran Ambassador Rene Leon.

 

CISPES has been active in denouncing Gilberto’s case, as well as the other
recent cases of political murders and intimidation.  For the most recent
CISPES update about Impunity in El Salvador around Gilberto’s and others’
cases, see Teamsters, ILO, and Women’s Rights Organizations all Criticize
ARENA Government for Inaction in Investigating Crime
(http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=111&Itemid=
28> &task=view&id=111&Itemid=28.)  To join the CISPES Emergency Response
Network to help continue pressure around this and other cases of increasing
repression in El Salvador, sign up at www.cispes.org
<http://www.cispes.org/> .  

 

 

 

 

ACTION ALERT: Justice for Gilberto Soto

(Information from this alert comes from the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters)

 

Labor Activist <http://www.teamsterstakeaction.org/campaign/soto> ’s Killers
Must be Found

 

On November 5, 2004, Teamsters Port Division Representative Gilberto Soto
was assassinated in Usulutan, El Salvador. Soto, an American citizen, had
returned to his native country to meet with Central American trade union
leaders and port drivers, and to document worker rights violations.

 

The murder remains unsolved. 

 

In a gruesome echo of the Salvadoran government’s response to the death
squad assassinations of the 1980s, the Salvadoran Interior Minister labeled
Soto’s death a “common crime” within days of his murder—and before the
government had launched any investigation.

 

One Salvadoran official took the assassination seriously and sprang into
action: Beatrice de Carrillo, the ombudsman and director of the official
Salvadoran Human Rights Office. Though her office is mandated by the
Salvadoran constitution, the police refused to give her access to the
investigation files or the officers conducting the investigation. She
predicted that the government would soon make an arrest, call the murder a
“crime of passion” and then after the media attention faded, ultimately drop
the case. 

 

That’s exactly what happened. Within a week the government of El Salvador
arrested Soto’s mother-in-law, claiming that she hoped to collect the
Teamsters’ million-dollar life insurance policy. In fact, Soto’s policy was
for only $50,000 and his children were the beneficiaries, not his wife.
Fourteen months later, Soto’s mother-in-law was acquitted. The government
has continued to obstruct, frustrate and harass Dr. de Carrillo. She has
also received death threats because of her ongoing search for the truth.

 

On November 15, 2006, the International Labor Organization (ILO) issued
<http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb297/pdf/gb-10.pd
f>  a report that demanding that the Salvadoran government reopen the case
file on Soto’s murder. 

 

The Teamsters union has joined with labor leaders in El Salvador to demand
that the true killers be brought to justice. If we allow this murder to go
unsolved, labor and human rights leaders will never be safe in El Salvador.
Tell Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Ambassador to the United States
from El Salvador Rene Leon to demand that the Salvadoran government reopen
the investigation into the Gilberto Soto murder and protect and the work of
the Salvadoran Human Rights Ombudsman.

 

Check out the Teamsters website for
<http://www.teamsterstakeaction.org/campaign/soto>  more information and the
sign the petition


Full Petition Text: 


The Honorable Dr. Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
United States Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520 

His Excellency Rene A. León 
Ambassador of El Salvador 
Washington, D.C. 20036 

Dear Secretary Rice and Mr. Ambassador León: 

We call on you to demand that the government of El Salvador immediately
reopen the investigation into Gilberto Soto's assassination and support the
work of the Salvadoran Human Rights Ombudsman. 

Soto, an American citizen and Teamsters Union Representative, was murdered
in Usulutan, El Salvador on November 5, 2004.

Beatrice de Carrillo, the ombudsman and director of the official Salvadoran
Human Rights Office, has been investigating the murder, but has been met
with constant resistance from the Salvadoran government. She has also
received death threats for investigating the cover-up of Soto's
assassination.

Adding to the international outcry over this case, on November 15, 2006, the
International Labor Organization, a specialized agency of the United
Nations, released a report that condemns the Salvadoran government's
handling of the case. 

If we allow this murder to go unsolved, labor and human rights activists
will never be safe in El Salvador. We request that you instruct the
Salvadoran government to conduct a fair, objective and transparent
investigation, and to take action to end attacks on and harassment of labor
and human rights advocates in El Salvador.

Furthermore, the U.S. government and the government of El Salvador must
fully support and protect the office of the Human Rights Ombudsman. 

  

Sincerely,

[Your name] 
[Your address] 

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