Guatemala: Municipal Worker Murdered at Work

Hugo Lionel Acevedo Agustín, a member of the Chiquimula municipal workers’ union SITRAMUNICH was murdered on 10 July 2012, killed by a gunshot wound to the neck. The ITUC has joined with its Guatemalan affiliates, the CGTC, CUSG and UNSITRAGUA, in strongly condemning the municipal employees’ murder.

Acevedo worked as a municipal worker for 16 years. "With the ITUC, it is the entire national and international trade union movement that is expressing its repudiation and outrage at this terrible crime," said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow. "Guatemala is heading in a very worrying direction. Democracy is under serious threat when those defending workers are having to pay with their lives for their trade union activities."

In a letter to the Guatemalan authorities, the ITUC demanded that President Pérez Molina take every action needed to bring an end to this endless wave of attacks and murders targeting trade unionists and indigenous leaders. It is vital that this latest crime be cleared up by a conclusive investigation and not be left shrouded in impunity.