http://dwb.newsobserver.com/news/ncwire ... 4035c.html

Published: Apr 10, 2007
Modified: Apr 10, 2007 1:45 PM
Advocate for migrant workers' rights in N.C. found dead in Mexico

The Associated Press

A Mexican employee at an organization that fought for the rights of Mexican migrant guest workers in North Carolina and other states in the U.S. was found beaten to death in the northern city of Monterrey, officials said Tuesday.

The body of Santiago Rafael Cruz was found early Monday at the Monterrey, Mexico, office of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, Leticia Zavala, international vice president for the organization, said in a telephone interview from North Carolina.

The Ohio-based arm of the AFL-CIO represents the rights of migrant farm workers, she said.

Officials believe Cruz was killed late Sunday or early Monday. He had been hired recently as the Monterrey office manager and was staying at the office while he looked for a place to live.

Police had made no arrests in the case, Zavala said. On its Web site, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee said it believed the killing was related to the group's work defending the rights of migrant workers.

"We have put up with constant attacks in both the U.S. and Mexico, including having our staff harassed, our office burglarized and broken into several times, and a number of other attempted break-ins," it said. "Now the attacks have come to this."

Zavala said the killing did not appear to be a burglary because nothing was missing.

"We are hoping the authorities in Mexico take the matter seriously and do everything they can to investigate what happened," Zavala said.

The office helped migrant workers get visas and defend their rights.