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FLOC observes
anniversary of official's slaying in Mexico
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee observed the two-year anniversary of
the murder of one of its officials with a gathering yesterday that
attracted about 35 people to its headquarters in the Old South End.
Santiago Rafael Cruz was tortured and beaten to death inside the FLOC
office in Monterrey, Mexico, on April 9, 2007. The murder was believed
to be in retaliation for FLOC's success in achieving labor agreements
that protected migrant Mexican farm workers from paying extortionate
fees to corrupt recruiters south of the border.
One of the killers is in prison, but three others - two men and a woman
- are at large, FLOC President Baldemar Velasquez said. The location of
the two men is known, but Mexican authorities refuse to pick them up, he
said.
"The only people who get justice in Mexico are the super rich and the
drug cartels," Mr. Velasquez said.
He said FLOC has appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights, part of the Organization of American States, to pressure Mexico
to arrest the two suspects. He said one of the suspects was arrested by
the U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona and turned over to Mexican
authorities, who released him in a matter of hours.
Mr. Velasquez asked those in attendance last night to support FLOC's
campaign to organize the field workers of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
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