April 10: Santiago Rafael Cruz, an organizer for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), was found bound and beaten to death this morning in the group's Monterrey, Mexico, office.

FLOC opened an office in Monterrey next to the U.S. Consulate there in 2005 to help members coming to North Carolina as guest workers in processing their visas, to fight corruption in the recruitment process and to develop leaders and train members. The office has been the target of break-ins with files and equipment destroyed.

Cruz, 29, who worked for FLOC for more than four years in the United States, had headed up the Monterrey
office for less than a month, says Leticia Zavala, a FLOC organizer.

He was full of life, a great organizer. He had just gotten close to the church. He had become a born-again Christian only some months ago and he was looking for a new life.

FLOC has asked the AFL-CIO and Rep. Marcy Kaptur's (D-Ohio) office to request the U.S. State Department press the Mexican government to conduct a thorough and speedy investigation to bring the killers to justice.

In a statement on its website, FLOC says:

Since our breakthrough agreement in North Carolina in 2004, FLOC has had to battle against anti-union hostility in the South's "right-to-work" environment. We have put up with constant attacks in both the U.S. and Mexico - including having our office burglarized and broken into several times and a number of other attempted break-ins. Now the attacks have come to this.

To donate money to help transport Cruz's body back to his home in Mexico City or help pay for his funeral and other expenses, send a check payable to: FLOC, c/o Santiago Tragedy Fund, 1221 Broadway St., Toledo, Ohio 43609.

For more information: Farm Labor Organizing Committee - AFL-CIO