At Least Strikers in America Don't Get Shot

Demanding Your Rights in Mexico Can Be Hazardous to Your Health, as Striking Steel Workers in Central Mexico Learned Apr. 20. The Aftermath of a Steel Plant Strike (Above) and the Funeral for One Worker, Killed By Federal Police (Below).

May 1st was a day of exceptional work. In Mexico, a great number of workers from different unions expressed their demands for the resignation of Labor Secretary Francisco Javier Salazar, to heal relations between the government and unions, and to demand an explanation for the deaths of two unionists during a government assault on striking steelworkers in Lazaro Cardenas in Michoacan, on April 20.

Almost at the same time, in major American cities where the presence of Mexicans is remarkable, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas, millions of Hispanic workers sought to vigorously reiterate their presence in the political, social, and economic life of the United States. It was a victorious day.

In defense of the United States, it must be said that at least it is possible in that country for laborers, when questioned by immigration authorities, not to be penalized; they can speak freely and request in a loud voice that they want their labor or residential visa, without the consequences being bloody.

In Mexico, on the contrary, legally recognized workers cannot choose the leaders they desire, and must avoid the unjust and abusive interference of federal authorities, who are legally authorized to decide which unions to recognize and which are their leaders.

And if a strike affects a business too much, like the Siderurgica Lazaro Cardenas-Las Truchas [a steelmaking company in Lazaro Cardenas], the military police show up and fire on the strikers, backed up by intelligence transmitted from official helicopters, which [on April 20] killed two and injured thirty, without anyone being reprimanded over it.