TOLEDO BLADE

April 20, 2007

FLOC pushes for action in man's slaying
Union leader believes death in Mexico tied to corruption

By JANE SCHMUCKER
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Leaders of the Toledo-based labor union for farm workers - the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, often referred to as FLOC - know better than most that "money moves a lot of things in Mexico, including the police," union President Baldemar Velasquez said.

But union leaders are steadfast in their decision to never pay bribes, he said, even for the investigation into the murder of a beloved co-worker, 29-year-old organizer Santiago Rafael Cruz, who was beaten to death in the union's Monterrey, Mexico, office. Mr. Cruz lived in Toledo since 1998, until going to Monterrey a few months ago.

Nevertheless, they were dismayed that yesterday, 10 days after Mr. Cruz's body was found bound and gagged, local authorities were telling the union that they had no leads and no motives.

Perhaps most disappointing to local FLOC leaders were the newspaper quotes from Mexican authorities conjecturing that Mr. Cruz's death was a result of a feud between unions.

"This is utterly absurd," Mr. Velasquez said, adding that FLOC is the only union in its niche.

So yesterday, he and other labor leaders, including Toledo Area AFL-CIO Executive Secretary George Tucker, attempted to ratchet up the pressure on Mexican police by holding a news conference thousands of miles away at FLOC headquarters on Broadway. They hope it will have implications around the world.

FLOC leaders said they think Mr. Cruz's death was ordered by someone who has been profiting from illegal fees charged to Mexicans who want to work in the United States.

Independent recruiters - even some of those working for reputable companies - commonly pocket hundreds or thousands of dollars in "fees" they charge to workers who aren't knowledgeable enough to realize they don't have to pay them to get work in the United States.

Some of those corrupt recruiters are making tens of thousands of dollars a year, maybe even $100,000, on the side, Mr. Velasquez said.

So, when FLOC organizers spread the word in Mexico that paying such "fees" to get a job picking fruits and vegetables is illegal, it's a direct threat to such recruiters' way of life.

"Obviously, the people who benefited from this corrupt system are not very happy with us," Mr. Velasquez said.

The union's office in Monterrey had been burglarized several times and organizers there had been harassed, he added. But Mexican police have not asked him many questions about those incidents. And that's led Mr. Velasquez to decide that authorities might develop more curiosity about Mr. Cruz's death if they know the world is watching.

So yesterday he formally thanked those who have sent messages asking for a thorough investigation and he requested such support from more organizations. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is one of those that he hopes will take on Mr. Cruz's death as a cause.

Whether that's enough to help find Mr. Cruz's killers or those who ordered his death is impossible to predict. Mr. Velasquez said he's learned over his decades in union organizing that doing the right thing is not always hinged on the chances of winning or losing.

But he will rely, he said, on the method that always has worked best for FLOC: "pushing and pushing and pushing."