[Peace-discuss] slavery conviction in Florida

[Ricky Baldwin]

Conviction may help working conditions
Jill Barton, Associated Press, June 29, 2002

WEST PALM BEACH - The conviction of three citrus contractors on federal 
slavery charges could help end the violence and farmworker mistreatment that 
has plagued the industry, a human rights group said Friday.
"It's time now that the agriculture industry take a look at itself and 
decide that it's not going to operate under the rules of the past and 
continue beating and holding workers by force," said Laura Germino, a 
representative with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Brothers Ramiro and Juan Ramos and their cousin, Jose Ramos, were convicted 
Thursday in U.S. District Court in Fort Pierce on charges of conspiring to 
hold hundreds of workers as slaves, threatening them with violence and 
holding them hostage over alleged $1,000 debts.
They could forfeit more than $3 million in property and face up to 25 years 
in prison after being convicted of involuntary servitude, harboring 
undocumented workers, interfering with interstate commerce by extortion and 
using a firearm. They will be sentenced in November.
"We're very pleased that justice was done because it was a very coercive and 
violent operation," Germino said.
A call to defense attorney Joaquin Perez was not returned.
Workers, who mainly picked citrus in Lake Placid, said the Ramoses kept them 
under constant surveillance to prevent their escape, tried to keep them in 
debt and threatened violence to create a climate of fear.
In one instance, the defendants pointed guns at a group who operated a van 
transportation service and attacked them to keep their workers from leaving.
"When you prevent the van drivers from picking up passengers who are 
farmworkers, you're effectively cutting off the escape route," Germino said. 
"It's the same as putting up a fence around people."
One worker who testified in the case says he watched as the defendants beat 
his boss with their guns and smashed in the windows of the van.
"Everyone was very scared. They were running, hiding," said Alejandro, who 
was identified by his initials ABP in court documents and refused to give 
his last name. "They treated me badly. They pointed the pistol at me and 
said they would kill me."
The FBI and the U.S. Border Patrol in West Palm Beach investigated the case 
for two years after the coalition called attention to the abuses.
Germino said Florida has seen at least five slavery cases in as many years.




------------------------

"...ironically, perhaps, the best organised dissenters in the world today 
are anarchists, who are busily undermining capitalism while the rest of the 
left is still trying to form committees."
               -- Jeremy Hardy, The Guardian (UK)

------------------------


_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: 
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx