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12 February, 2010
Notorious labor-rights violator seeks to silence ASJ justice workersTrial starting February 24 is the latest in a long series of security company SETECH’s attempts to quash Christian organization’s labor rights efforts. Board member and college professor Kurt Ver Beek charged on behalf of ASJ.
Tegucigalpa –A
security company notorious for trampling its workers’ basic rights has
filed criminal slander charges against la Asociación para una Sociedad
más Justa (ASJ)¹
in an attempt to silence the organization’s public calls for the rights
of Honduras’ poorest workers to be respected.
The charges stem from an ad ASJ took out in a local newspaper which summarized findings from the Honduran Ministry of Labor’s investigations into SETECH’s labor rights abuses. Because Honduran law does not treat organizations as individuals per se, the court has called Dr. Kurt Ver Beek, a co-founder and board member of ASJ, to receive charges on behalf of ASJ in the trial beginning February 24.
History of labor rights abuses
ASJ has identified security guards, ubiquitous throughout Honduras, as among the worst-treated workers in Honduras. Many security guards are illiterate and few have studied beyond sixth grade, making it easy for their employers to sneak illegal clauses into their labor contracts. ASJ research has identified Seguridad Técnica de Honduras (SETECH) as one of the worst violators. According to former SETECH workers, their employer forced them to work 24-hour-shifts every other day (72 to 96 hours a week) with no overtime pay and denied them enrollment in a mandatory government health plan. Most guards make less than the legal minimum wage, and some say they can feed their families nothing more than corn tortillas with salt. Ironically, by denying workers these benefits, SETECH is able to offer rock-bottom bids that have won it numerous contracts with government agencies.
In January of 2007 the Honduran Ministry of Labor notified SETECH that it owed a total of over $235,000 in unpaid overtime and benefits and 2,864 days of vacation that it had denied to 360 of its workers.² In November 2009, 80 SETECH guards burned their uniforms outside of SETECH’s office in Tegucigalpa to protest the fact that they had not been paid at all in over three months.³
The latest in a series of attempts by SETECH to sabotage labor rights efforts
In the fall of 2004 ASJ staff sought out meetings with SETECH executives to encourage them to better align their labor policies with the law. But, setting a trend that would continue for the next five and a half years, SETECH executives’ response to ASJ’s overtures was hostile. In the subsequent years, SETECH and its representatives have undertaken numerous efforts, including the following, to put a stop to ASJ’s efforts to make Honduras a more just society for impoverished workers:
Trial against ASJ starts on February 24
In October 2006, SETECH filed charges of alleged slander against two ASJ journalists who had reported on the company’s labor rights abuses, but the court quickly dismissed the case, finding the charges were groundless. Undeterred, on January 7, 2007, SETECH again filed criminal charges for alleged slander against ASJ. This time, though ASJ presented strong evidence in appeals at two different levels indicating both that the charges were baseless and that there were technical problems with the way they had been filed, both appeals were denied, with courts offering weak and even incoherent justifications for these decisions. On February 24, 2010, SETECH will get its wish of bringing ASJ to trial over the charges.
The basis of SETECH’s charges is an ad paid for by ASJ and published in Honduran newspaper El Heraldo in December 2006 which outlined SETECH’s history of labor rights abuses and its reluctance to work with ASJ on a friendly basis to voluntarily improve labor conditions.
Honduras’ legal system requires that when charges are filed against a corporate entity, an individual must be named to represent the organization and, if necessary, accept responsibility for the charges. In this case, SETECH has demanded—and the court has agreed—that Dr. Kurt Ver Beek, a co-founder and board member of both AJS and ASJ, represent ASJ in the trial, despite the fact that he is not the president of either board. This is not the first time Ver Beek has faced adversity because of his support for justice efforts in Honduras. After Dionisio Díaz’s assassination the Inter-American Human Rights Commission asked the Honduran government to implement precautionary measures such as assigning police officers to provide security for ASJ board member Carlos Hernández and for Ver Beek.
Plotters behind Dionisio Díaz García murder still at large
It took thousands of emails and letters from around the world, dozens of meetings with Honduran officials and foreign diplomats, and hundreds of hours of advocacy work, but 14 months after Dionisio’s death the Honduran government got its act together and, in early 2008, arrested the hit-men who murdered ASJ labor rights lawyer Dionisio Díaz García. In 2009 they were tried, found guilty, and sentenced to 21 years in prison. Both were former employees of SETECH. But while the Honduran justice system has insisted on going through with a frivolous suit filed by SETECH against ASJ, it has done virtually nothing to identify and arrest the people who planned and paid for Dionisio’s assassination. In the 39 months that have gone by since the murder, responsibility for the case has been shuffled around between no less than 20 different prosecutors, but few have done anything beyond skimming the case file. Recently the case was once again reassigned, and senior justice officials now claim they will take the investigation seriously.
AJS asks supporters to contact Honduran justice officials
AJS requests supporters to contact the following Honduran officials. Emails to these officials may be sent through AJS's website, www.ajs-us.org.
__________________________________________________________________________________The charges stem from an ad ASJ took out in a local newspaper which summarized findings from the Honduran Ministry of Labor’s investigations into SETECH’s labor rights abuses. Because Honduran law does not treat organizations as individuals per se, the court has called Dr. Kurt Ver Beek, a co-founder and board member of ASJ, to receive charges on behalf of ASJ in the trial beginning February 24.
History of labor rights abuses
ASJ has identified security guards, ubiquitous throughout Honduras, as among the worst-treated workers in Honduras. Many security guards are illiterate and few have studied beyond sixth grade, making it easy for their employers to sneak illegal clauses into their labor contracts. ASJ research has identified Seguridad Técnica de Honduras (SETECH) as one of the worst violators. According to former SETECH workers, their employer forced them to work 24-hour-shifts every other day (72 to 96 hours a week) with no overtime pay and denied them enrollment in a mandatory government health plan. Most guards make less than the legal minimum wage, and some say they can feed their families nothing more than corn tortillas with salt. Ironically, by denying workers these benefits, SETECH is able to offer rock-bottom bids that have won it numerous contracts with government agencies.
In January of 2007 the Honduran Ministry of Labor notified SETECH that it owed a total of over $235,000 in unpaid overtime and benefits and 2,864 days of vacation that it had denied to 360 of its workers.² In November 2009, 80 SETECH guards burned their uniforms outside of SETECH’s office in Tegucigalpa to protest the fact that they had not been paid at all in over three months.³
The latest in a series of attempts by SETECH to sabotage labor rights efforts
In the fall of 2004 ASJ staff sought out meetings with SETECH executives to encourage them to better align their labor policies with the law. But, setting a trend that would continue for the next five and a half years, SETECH executives’ response to ASJ’s overtures was hostile. In the subsequent years, SETECH and its representatives have undertaken numerous efforts, including the following, to put a stop to ASJ’s efforts to make Honduras a more just society for impoverished workers:
- Petitioned the Honduran government to suspend ASJ’s license to operate.
- Filed false charges of tax evasion against ASJ with Honduras’ tax authority.
- Filed false criminal charges against ASJ staff members.
- Made false accusations against ASJ in the national media on numerous occasions.
- Verbally threatened ASJ staff on various occasions.
- Sued ASJ for alleged slander—twice.
Trial against ASJ starts on February 24
In October 2006, SETECH filed charges of alleged slander against two ASJ journalists who had reported on the company’s labor rights abuses, but the court quickly dismissed the case, finding the charges were groundless. Undeterred, on January 7, 2007, SETECH again filed criminal charges for alleged slander against ASJ. This time, though ASJ presented strong evidence in appeals at two different levels indicating both that the charges were baseless and that there were technical problems with the way they had been filed, both appeals were denied, with courts offering weak and even incoherent justifications for these decisions. On February 24, 2010, SETECH will get its wish of bringing ASJ to trial over the charges.
The basis of SETECH’s charges is an ad paid for by ASJ and published in Honduran newspaper El Heraldo in December 2006 which outlined SETECH’s history of labor rights abuses and its reluctance to work with ASJ on a friendly basis to voluntarily improve labor conditions.
Honduras’ legal system requires that when charges are filed against a corporate entity, an individual must be named to represent the organization and, if necessary, accept responsibility for the charges. In this case, SETECH has demanded—and the court has agreed—that Dr. Kurt Ver Beek, a co-founder and board member of both AJS and ASJ, represent ASJ in the trial, despite the fact that he is not the president of either board. This is not the first time Ver Beek has faced adversity because of his support for justice efforts in Honduras. After Dionisio Díaz’s assassination the Inter-American Human Rights Commission asked the Honduran government to implement precautionary measures such as assigning police officers to provide security for ASJ board member Carlos Hernández and for Ver Beek.
Plotters behind Dionisio Díaz García murder still at large
It took thousands of emails and letters from around the world, dozens of meetings with Honduran officials and foreign diplomats, and hundreds of hours of advocacy work, but 14 months after Dionisio’s death the Honduran government got its act together and, in early 2008, arrested the hit-men who murdered ASJ labor rights lawyer Dionisio Díaz García. In 2009 they were tried, found guilty, and sentenced to 21 years in prison. Both were former employees of SETECH. But while the Honduran justice system has insisted on going through with a frivolous suit filed by SETECH against ASJ, it has done virtually nothing to identify and arrest the people who planned and paid for Dionisio’s assassination. In the 39 months that have gone by since the murder, responsibility for the case has been shuffled around between no less than 20 different prosecutors, but few have done anything beyond skimming the case file. Recently the case was once again reassigned, and senior justice officials now claim they will take the investigation seriously.
AJS asks supporters to contact Honduran justice officials
AJS requests supporters to contact the following Honduran officials. Emails to these officials may be sent through AJS's website, www.ajs-us.org.
- Supreme Court President: requesting that the trial against ASJ based on charges filed by SETECH and scheduled for February 24 be carried out in a just and transparent manner.
- Attorney General: requesting that the utmost priority be given to investigating the intellectual authors of Dionisio’s murder.
- Minister of Security: requesting that Honduras’ police force give priority to investigating the intellectual authors of Dionisio’s murder; that they review and, if warranted, revoke the operating licenses of security companies that break the law; and thanking them for continuing to provide protection for members of ASJ.
¹ASJ
is a Honduran, Christian, non-governmental organization that provides
legal services to impoverished individuals and carries out research and
advocacy in areas such as land rights, labor rights, corruption, and
aid for victims of rape and sexual abuse. Association for a More Just Society (AJS) is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting justice in Honduras, including doing so by providing grants to ASJ and monitoring and overseeing their execution.
²Actas de Notificación published by the Secretaría de Estado en el Despacho de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, Inspección General de Trabajo, in January 2007, document # IL-07010208018491.
³Diario El Heraldo, 14 Nov. 2009, “Guardias queman uniforme porque no les pagan salario”
²Actas de Notificación published by the Secretaría de Estado en el Despacho de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, Inspección General de Trabajo, in January 2007, document # IL-07010208018491.
³Diario El Heraldo, 14 Nov. 2009, “Guardias queman uniforme porque no les pagan salario”
###
Address inquiries to:
Association for a More Just Society
PO Box 888631
Grand Rapids, MI 49507
www.ajs-us.org
info@ajs-us.org
1 (800) 897-1135
Chronology of SETECH’s Efforts to
Silence ASJ Labor Rights Advocates
September 2004: According to several female ASJ employees who worked for the Labor Rights project at the time, during initial meetings with SETECH executives, they were offered bribes such as free vacations in the Bay Islands to drop the case, and when those bribes were refused, the SETECH executives placed firearms on the table and made veiled references to rapes in attempts to intimidate them.
August 25, 2006: SETECH owner Selvin Richard Swasey called an ASJ journalist on her cell phone and threatened to travel to the United States to tell all of ASJ’s funders to cut off their support for ASJ.
August 27, 2006: SETECH representative Roger Leonel Medina Lopez spoke on national radio station Radio America claiming that ASJ had stolen a vehicle from SETECH. In reality, Honduras’ Court of Labor had ordered the vehicle to be impounded due to SETECH’s refusal to pay reparations for hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime to workers ASJ was representing. In the August 31, 2006 edition of La Tribuna newspaper, SETECH representatives repeated the false claim that ASJ had stolen a SETECH vehicle, and the claims were repeated yet again on radio station HRN on September 5 and on television news program Hoy Mismo on September 6 and 7.
August 29, 2006: SETECH representatives filed charges with Honduras’ Investigative Police (DGIC) claiming that ASJ labor lawyer Dionisio Diaz Garcia had stolen a vehicle from the company.
September 1, 2006 - February 1, 2008: During this period some 150 threatening messages were posted in response to articles discussing SETECH’s labor rights abuses that were published on Revistazo.com, ASJ’s online investigative journal. Some of these comments were posted in the name of SETECH representative Roger Medina and SETECH owner Selvin Richard Swasey; others were posted from the same computers but under other pseudonyms.
September 19, 2006: SETECH owner Selvin Richard Swasey, accompanied by SETECH representative Roger Medina and several lawyers and assorted others, arrived at ASJ’s office in Tegucigalpa without an appointment and demanded to be allowed into the office. Several ASJ staff members instead went outside to speak with Swasey, who made various threats and accusations against them.
September 26, 2006: Online Honduran newspaper Hondudiario.com ran an announcement paid for by SETECH falsely claiming that ASJ did not enroll its employees in the legally mandated government health plan.
October 4, 2006: SETECH filed a lawsuit for alleged slander against two ASJ journalists who covered SETECH’s labor rights violations for Revistazo.com. The court dismissed the charges, considering them to be unfounded, on November 1.
November 16, 2006: SETECH representative Roger Medina presented false charges before the Honduran tax authority (DEI) claiming that ASJ did not withhold income tax from its employees’ pay. An audit carried out by the DEI later proved these claims were completely false.
November 27, 2006: SETECH filed a petition before the Honduran government requesting that ASJ’s license to operate be revoked.
November 27, 2006: A death threat against ASJ lawyer Dionisio Diaz Garcia was sent to another ASJ lawyer via cell-phone text message.
December 4, 2006: Garcia was shot to death by two hit-men on a motorcycle while he drove to court to represent a dozen former SETECH employees in a labor-rights suit.
January 7, 2007: SETECH filed a second lawsuit against ASJ for alleged slander.
January 31, 2008: Two former middle-management-level SETECH employees, César Daniel Amador Estrada and Ramón Eusebio Solís Zelaya, were arrested, charged with being the hitmen who killed Dionisio.
Friday, February 27, 2009: Amador and Solís were found guilty, and were later sentenced to 21 years in prison.
February 24, 2010: The slander trial against ASJ begins.
September 2004: According to several female ASJ employees who worked for the Labor Rights project at the time, during initial meetings with SETECH executives, they were offered bribes such as free vacations in the Bay Islands to drop the case, and when those bribes were refused, the SETECH executives placed firearms on the table and made veiled references to rapes in attempts to intimidate them.
August 25, 2006: SETECH owner Selvin Richard Swasey called an ASJ journalist on her cell phone and threatened to travel to the United States to tell all of ASJ’s funders to cut off their support for ASJ.
August 27, 2006: SETECH representative Roger Leonel Medina Lopez spoke on national radio station Radio America claiming that ASJ had stolen a vehicle from SETECH. In reality, Honduras’ Court of Labor had ordered the vehicle to be impounded due to SETECH’s refusal to pay reparations for hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime to workers ASJ was representing. In the August 31, 2006 edition of La Tribuna newspaper, SETECH representatives repeated the false claim that ASJ had stolen a SETECH vehicle, and the claims were repeated yet again on radio station HRN on September 5 and on television news program Hoy Mismo on September 6 and 7.
August 29, 2006: SETECH representatives filed charges with Honduras’ Investigative Police (DGIC) claiming that ASJ labor lawyer Dionisio Diaz Garcia had stolen a vehicle from the company.
September 1, 2006 - February 1, 2008: During this period some 150 threatening messages were posted in response to articles discussing SETECH’s labor rights abuses that were published on Revistazo.com, ASJ’s online investigative journal. Some of these comments were posted in the name of SETECH representative Roger Medina and SETECH owner Selvin Richard Swasey; others were posted from the same computers but under other pseudonyms.
September 19, 2006: SETECH owner Selvin Richard Swasey, accompanied by SETECH representative Roger Medina and several lawyers and assorted others, arrived at ASJ’s office in Tegucigalpa without an appointment and demanded to be allowed into the office. Several ASJ staff members instead went outside to speak with Swasey, who made various threats and accusations against them.
September 26, 2006: Online Honduran newspaper Hondudiario.com ran an announcement paid for by SETECH falsely claiming that ASJ did not enroll its employees in the legally mandated government health plan.
October 4, 2006: SETECH filed a lawsuit for alleged slander against two ASJ journalists who covered SETECH’s labor rights violations for Revistazo.com. The court dismissed the charges, considering them to be unfounded, on November 1.
November 16, 2006: SETECH representative Roger Medina presented false charges before the Honduran tax authority (DEI) claiming that ASJ did not withhold income tax from its employees’ pay. An audit carried out by the DEI later proved these claims were completely false.
November 27, 2006: SETECH filed a petition before the Honduran government requesting that ASJ’s license to operate be revoked.
November 27, 2006: A death threat against ASJ lawyer Dionisio Diaz Garcia was sent to another ASJ lawyer via cell-phone text message.
December 4, 2006: Garcia was shot to death by two hit-men on a motorcycle while he drove to court to represent a dozen former SETECH employees in a labor-rights suit.
January 7, 2007: SETECH filed a second lawsuit against ASJ for alleged slander.
January 31, 2008: Two former middle-management-level SETECH employees, César Daniel Amador Estrada and Ramón Eusebio Solís Zelaya, were arrested, charged with being the hitmen who killed Dionisio.
Friday, February 27, 2009: Amador and Solís were found guilty, and were later sentenced to 21 years in prison.
February 24, 2010: The slander trial against ASJ begins.
Previous Press Releases:
February 27, 2009 - Hit-men Convicted of Murdering "Lawyer of the Poor" Dionisio Díaz García
February 12, 2009 - Trial Against Alleged Hit-Men Begins February 18
September 8, 2008 - Prosecution Scores Victory in Pre-Trial Evidentiary Hearing
February 8, 2008 - Alleged Hit-Men Held in Prison Without Bail
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