ITUC report: Trade unionists and workers were killed in Angola, Colombia, Indonesia and Mexico in 2025
Photo: The PBI-Colombia accompanied José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (Cajar) condemned the murder of Walberto Quintero Medina and expressed its solidarity with his family and with the Sinaltrainal union, whom they have accompanied for several decades in demanding guarantees for the development of their work.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has just released 2026 ITUC GLOBAL RIGHTS INDEX THE WORLD’S WORST COUNTRIES FOR WORKERS.
The latest edition of this annual report notes: “Trade unionists and workers were killed in Angola, Colombia, Indonesia and Mexico.”
Peace Brigades International has projects in Colombia, Mexico and Indonesia, as well as Honduras, Guatemala, the Philippines, Kenya and Nepal. Peace Brigades International-Canada has worked to strengthen Protection Mechanisms for human rights defenders, including union activists, particularly alongside our colleagues at PBI-Mexico.
“The Americas region remained the deadliest for workers and their representatives, with extra-judicial killings recorded in Colombia and Mexico.”
Walberto Quintero Medina (Colombia)
“In Colombia, Walberto Quintero Medina, Vice President of the CUT federation’s departmental committee in Cesar and an Executive Committee member of the SINALTRAINAL union for food industry workers, was murdered on 28 April 2025. He was shot at a public establishment in front of his friends and died in hospital. Medina’s death joins a long list of crimes committed against union leaders and human rights defenders. Several SINALTRAINAL members have been murdered in the past 20 years.”
Campo Elías Urrutía Vargas (Colombia)
Mario Machuca Sánchez (Mexico)
Noé Pérez Urquidi (Mexico)
César Contreras (Mexico)
In July 2025, union leader César Contreras, who served as General Secretary of the Unión Nacional de Transportistas del Cambio (UNTRAC), was shot dead in his office in Cancún. According to witnesses, two armed men entered his office, shot him, and fled the area.”
The report additionally notes:
Juan Francisco Palacios Murillo (Mexico)
“The leader of the Confederación de Trabajadores de México (CTM), Juan Francisco Palacios Murillo, has been missing since 13 June 2025. Earlier in June, during a demonstration against the breach of agreements related to the construction of a public building, Murillo denounced threats from members of organised crime groups urging him to withdraw. The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that his disappearance was forced and carried out against his will.”
Honduras and Guatemala
The ITUC report also documents:
-“Multinational Fyffes declined to sign a collective agreement in Honduras despite years of organising by seasonal fruit workers.”
-“In February 2026, the Honduran government ordered Fyffes/Sumitomo to compensate predominantly seasonal workers and pay fines of almost US$800,000 for labour rights violations at its melon farms in Choluteca. Fyffes subsidiaries Suragroh and Melon Export S.A. failed to pay overtime, bonuses, and social security contributions, amid inadequate occupational health and safety standards. Fyffes has declined to sign a collective agreement despite years of organising by workers, contesting the legal standing of the Sindicato de Trabajadores/as Agrícolas (STAS) and postponing negotiations.”
-“In Honduras, agricultural workers and their representatives were stuck in prolonged disputes over union recognition with their employer, while in Guatemala and Chile, union representatives faced retaliation for their organising efforts.”
The full 80-page report can be read here.
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