Where 6401 SE Foster Rd. (SEIU 503 union hall)

The Portland Central America Solidarity Committee and the San Francisco Central Labor Council are proud to sponsor Honduran Labor Leader Jose Luis Baquedano, acting Secretary General of the United Workers Federation of Honduras (CUTH), which represents 250,000 urban and rural workers. Mr. Baquedano is also traveling to the United States as a representative of the Nation Front of Resistance Against the Coup in Honduras.

The situation in Honduras is dire. The recent elections that took place on November 29th were carried out amidst de facto military rule in Honduras. For four and a half months the country has suffered targeted assassinations of resistance leaders, media censorship, and widespread human rights violations.

 The labor movement in Honduras has undoubtedly played a central role in the resistance movement. These unions mobilized millions of workers to protest of the repression of the de facto regime and advocate for a constitutional assembly to initiate changes needed to support working families. Mr. Baquedano, who is also co-founder and President of the Mental Health Workers Union in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, welcomes the opportunity to tour the West Coast and meet with the rank-and-file and union leaders of the US and to share with them a vision of resistance and hope.

We invite your organization to demonstrate solidarity with the workers of Honduras and with workers’ movements across the Americas by supporting this tour. In organizing this tour, PCASC, the San Francisco Central Labor Council and our allies will educate our communities about the crisis of democracy in Honduras, the role of labor in social change, and the need to ensure that Obama fulfills his promise for a new policy towards Latin America. Mr. Baquedano will be speaking in Portland on Thursday January 28, 2010 from 7-9pm at the SEIU Local 503 Hall (6401 SE Foster Rd.). There will also be a reception with food and refreshments from 6-7pm.