TOLEDO BLADE

September 18, 2008

Mexico’s inquiry faulted; lawyer slams police work in labor activist’s murder

By CLAUDIA BOYD-BARRETT
BLADE STAFF WRITER

A renowned Mexican human rights lawyer conducting an investigation into the murder of farm worker activist Santiago Rafael Cruz yesterday called on people in the Toledo area to send letters to the Mexican government demanding that the case be properly resolved.

Speaking in Spanish to an audience of students, faculty, and activists at the University of Toledo law school, Leonel Rivero Rodriguez accused Mexican authorities of incompetence, misrepresentation, and corruption in their handling of Mr. Cruz’s murder.

“It’s evident that the police have done a very bad job,” Mr. Rivero said through a translator after describing how authorities repeatedly ignored evidence that he believes could lead them to the murderers.

“The Mexican authorities have not complied with their obligation to conduct an effective investigation that reveals the causes of the assassination,” Mr. Rivero said.

Mr. Cruz was beaten to death in April, 2007, at the office of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee in Monterrey, Mexico, just two months after he moved there from Toledo.

The 29-year-old had been working to educate Mexican migrant workers about their rights and defend them from extortion by recruiters who charge would-be seasonal laborers excessive fees for U.S. guest-worker visas, Mr. Rivero said.

The attorney said he believed the murder was an act of intimidation by corrupt recruiters upset that FLOC’s efforts were undercutting their profits.

The recruiters charge workers between $800 and $1,500 for a work visa, he said, when the real cost is $350 and should be paid by the employer.

So far, the only person arrested for Mr. Cruz’s murder is Jaime Martinez Amador.

Another suspect was released before he could be questioned.

Mr. Rivero believes at least four people were involved in the killing.

He accused Mexican authorities of deliberately ignoring statements by Mr. Amador that could lead to the arrest of all the killers.

He said police obscured the real motives behind the crime, first attributing it to a dispute over a woman, and later to a fight between unions.

“The authorities tried to quickly resolve the crime by blaming the victim,” Mr. Rivero said.

Baldemar Velasquez, founder and president of FLOC, said he hoped Mr. Rivero’s speech would put a new spotlight on the case and remind people that the murder hasn’t been solved.

“We hope that we drum up some interest in the United States,” he said.

Speaking at the end of the event, John Robinson Block, co-publisher and editor-in-chief of The Blade, said that both the Mexican and U.S. governments must work to guarantee the rights of migrant laborers.

“We don’t have completely clean hands on this side of the border,” he said, referencing unfair practices by Mexican recruiters and some employers of Mexican laborers in the United States. “The exploitation takes place because of a long-existing system on both sides.”

Vanessa Duran, a UT law student who attended the speech, agreed that the United States should play a part in preventing abuses of farm workers.

As a part-time worker for Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, she recounted meeting migrant laborers who had been pressured by recruiters to pay $1,500 for guest-worker visas.

Mr. Cruz’s murder “has a lot of implications for the migrants who work here,” she said.

“It just goes to show that our guest-worker policies have to be changed. They’re just not working.”

ABLE is a nonprofit law firm that provides free legal aid in civil matters to low-income individuals and groups in northwest and west central Ohio.

Mr. Rivero will be in Toledo through Wednesday and plans to interview six of Mr. Cruz’s friends and associates in the hope of obtaining new leads in the case.