$75,000 Reward for Information Leading to Capture of Killers of U.S. Labor Leader in El Salvador

$75,000 Reward for Information Leading to Capture of Killers of U.S. Labor Leader in El Salvador

Hoffa Meets With Salvadoran Ambassador, Presses Government For Investigation

November 19, 2004

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. unions are offering a reward of $75,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the men responsible for the planning and killing of Jose Gilberto Soto, a representative of the Teamsters Port Division, who was murdered in on November 5 in El Salvador, announced Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) joined with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in creating this fund to jumpstart an investigation by Salvadoran authorities that Hoffa characterizes as “going nowhere.”

Soto, 49, was in El Salvador to develop ties with labor leaders and port drivers when he was shot in the back. To date, the police have done little to apprehend what appears to be a death squad that murdered the union representative.

On November 16, Hoffa and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney met with Salvadoran Ambassador René León to insist that Salvadoran authorities intensify the investigation. Additionally, Hoffa called on the Ambassador to protect the witnesses, the Soto family and Salvadoran labor leaders and activists. Ambassador Leon indicated that we was returning to El Salvador within the next two weeks to directly review the investigation and invited the Teamsters to send a delegation with him to review the efforts that his government is making.

“We understand that there is an extreme level of intimidation in El Salvador that thwarts the development of their internal labor movement and has silenced eye witnesses with a shroud of fear,” Hoffa said. “ We hope that this reward will encourage some of those eyewitnesses to come forward.