Congressmembers Schakowsky, Pocan, McGovern, and Garcia Denounce Assassination of Honduran Trade Unionist

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Mark Pocan (WI-02), James P. McGovern (MA-02) and Jesus G. "Chuy" Garcia (IL-04) issued the following joint statement in response to the assassination of a Honduran labor leader:

"We condemn the unjust murder of Honduran trade unionist Jorge Alberto Acosta over the weekend. Acosta was a member of the Executive Committee of the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Tela Railroad Company (SITRATERCO) in La lima, Cortes, Honduras. Over the last year, Acosta had received escalating threats against him and other members of SITRATERCO. At the request of the unions and the national union anti-violence network, the government had authorized a protective order for him, but the protection never came. Acosta's assassination is just one of a recent brutal wave of killings, threats, kidnappings, beatings, torture, and disappearances of labor and social movement activists in Honduras, directed at Afro-Indigenous women, campesinos, teacher unionists, opposition political activists, supportive journalists, and many others.

"The labor movement of Honduras is in more danger than ever. Yet the Honduran government fails to provide the legally-mandated protection systems, does not investigate or prosecute those who threaten or kill union activists, and utterly fails to enforce its own labor laws. As the AFL-CIO and Honduran unions have documented, the Government of Honduras has failed to comply with its legally-mandated obligations under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to prevent anti-union violence, among other rampant violations.

"The Honduran government must thoroughly investigate and prosecute the assassination of Jorge Alberto Acosta, including the intellectual as well as material authors of the crime. It should provide legally-mandated protection to the other members of SITRATERCO's Executive Committee and investigate and prosecute all threats they have received. The government should protect the safety, rights, and freedoms of all trade unionists.We also call on the U.S. Government to keep the CAFTA Monitoring and Action Plan (MAP) open and advance the Honduras CAFTA complaint to the second stage of dispute settlement. And Congress should consider H.R. 1945, the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, which will suspend U.S. funding to Honduras for police and military operations until the Honduran government investigates the credible allegations of gross violations of human rights by their security forces.

"Rather than legitimize and support the Honduran government, the Trump Administrationshould publicly denounce these killings, kidnappings, and forced disappearances. Rather than treat the migrants who seek to flee this terror like dangerous invaders, we must welcome them as asylees."

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