Committee to condemn the murder of Honduran Altagracia Fuentes

Publicado: 25 Abril 2008
Google translate: 
    At the opening of the 9th Meeting of the UNI-Americas Regional Executive Committee on Thursday, April 24, 2008, in Panama City, the members of this organization of the UNI Global Union received the heart breaking news of the death of Altagracia Fuentes, secretary of the Honduran Workers’ Federation (CTH), who was shot to death together with another two persons who were accompanying her as they were riding in a vehicle shortly after midnight. The reports that were received alerted us to the fact that the incident occurred near El Progreso, in northern Honduras, as Sister Fuentes, as well as Yolanda Sanchez, another union leader, and Juan Bautista Aceituno, the driver, approached the city in question. This deplorable incident joins the recent murder of Brother Luis Gustavo Galeano, the delegate of the Office of the National Commissioner for Human Rights.



    A police spokesman told the media that it seems that this was “contract killing” because the criminals had been following the car Sanchez and the other two persons were riding in. In addition, Sister Fuentes was carrying approximately US$4,078 in local and foreign currency and the murderers did not take the money. A vehicle was also at the scene with some seven people inside who witnessed the incident. They tried to get close to offer their help but the perpetrators scared them away, shooting their weapons.



    We reject this crime because, based on these facts, this was an act driven by political motives. Thus, in the face of this abominable action, which brings mourning and grieving to Honduran society and particularly to the trade union movement, the 9th Meeting of UNI-Americas Regional Executive Committee vigorously condemns it and pays tribute to the extraordinary struggle of Sister Altagracia Fuentes, who headed the Federation of Free Workers’ Union of Honduras (FECESITLIH) and fought for the human and union rights of the workers of her country and of the Americas, as well as for their heartfelt claims of the vast majorities of Hondurans.
UNI Americas joins the thousands of voices in Honduras and the rest of the Continent to demand that President Manuel Zelaya order security authorities to make every effort possible to capture the perpetrators and for the courts impose rigorous punishment as prescribed by the law in the face of a crime aggravated by the circumstance that it was perpetrated against three human beings whose main purpose in life was to fight for better days for their fellow countrymen.



Panama City, Republic of Panama