<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">For Immediate Release: Jan. 15, 2020<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Contact: Matthew Groch, </span><a href="mailto:mgroch@citizen.org" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">mgroch@citizen.org</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">, (202) 454-5111<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><h1 align="center" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; break-after: avoid; font-size: 16pt; font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; color: rgb(47, 84, 150); font-weight: normal; text-align: center;" class=""><a name="_Hlk56091368" class=""></a><b class=""><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: windowtext;" class="">Mexican Labor Leader Susana Prieto to President AMLO: “My Life is in Danger”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></h1><h1 align="center" style="margin: 0in; line-height: normal; break-after: avoid; font-size: 16pt; font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; color: rgb(47, 84, 150); font-weight: normal; text-align: center;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 8pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: black;" class=""> </span></b></h1><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: center;" class=""><b class=""><i class=""><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Escalating Threats Against Prieto, Firing of Workers She Represents Spotlight Failing Enforcement of USMCA Labor Standards<o:p class=""></o:p></span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: center;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">WASHINGTON, D.C. – Mexican labor leader Susana Prieto has issued an urgent public plea to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) as efforts to organize an independent union at a U.S. auto parts factory in Mexico have led to escalating attacks and a death threat. Prieto’s letter to AMLO and its annex with text threats is available in </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/susana.prietoterrazas/posts/3399570403486323" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Spanish</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> and </span><a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/susana-prieto-jan-12-2021-letter-to-mexican-president-amlo-english-version/" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">English</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Prieto requested an urgent meeting with AMLO after escalating personal threats against her began with anonymous texts to her cellphone at Christmas time while the Tridonex workers she represents face ongoing harassment and firing. These actions violate the revised Mexican labor law and the protections provided under the revised North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), she writes. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Tridonex is a Matamoros subsidiary of Philadelphia car parts maker Cardone. The Tridonex workers’ efforts to replace a “protection” union with the independent National Independent Union of Industry and Service Workers (SNITIS) have been thwarted by local officials and by Tridonex, which continues to send money from workers’ paychecks to the corrupt union that the workers rejected.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 15.399999618530273px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 16.799999237060547px; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">“Workers are getting fired and threatened for trying to organize a union and their lawyer faces death threats after being falsely imprisoned, internally exiled, and her livelihood undermined because she was representing the Tridonex workers,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. “This is a case of a right-wing Mexican governor colluding with a U.S. subsidiary to deny workers their core labor rights guaranteed in Mexican law and the revised NAFTA with workers being fired for trying to form an independent union and their lawyer imprisoned, exiled and now receiving death threats.”</span><o:p class=""></o:p></p><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">In her letter describing the collusion between the governors of Mexican states Tamaulipas and Chihuahua, criminal gangs and corrupt “protection” unions, Prieto writes: “I request, Mr. President, a new meeting to explain to you in detail what has happened since [our last meeting] and the shocking situation I face, not only with respect to my liberty, but my very life.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="https://www.citizen.org/news/jailed-mexican-labor-activists-immediate-release-demanded/" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Prieto was imprisoned in June 2020</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> by the state government of Tamaulipas after years of organizing workers in factories along the U.S.-Mexico border. She </span><a href="https://www.citizen.org/news/as-mexican-president-comes-to-d-c-abuse-of-mexican-labor-activist-susana-prieto-escalates-casting-pall-on-new-nafta/" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">was released on</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> conditions that prevent her from continuing her labor advocacy, and that required her to move to the Mexican state of Chihuahua, where the government has also issued a similar warrant for her arrest.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">“You know better than anyone about the age-old marriage that exists between the authorities and criminal organizations in Tamaulipas, as well as the political and business collusion that flourish not only here, but in Chihuahua, my home state: a convergence of illegal interests that drives the persecution of which I am the target and that devastates me,” Prieto wrote to AMLO..<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">In August more than 100 members of Congress </span><a href="https://www.citizen.org/news/reps-garcia-schakowsky-and-107-members-of-congress-urge-mexican-president-lopez-obrador-to-drop-charges-against-activist-and-protect-labor-rights/" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">sent a letter to AMLO</span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> urging him to ensure Mexican state governments drop politically motivated charges against Prieto. The letter also urged Mexico to ensure states comply with the labor rights guaranteed by the USMCA.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">Despite international attention, Prieto said that the threats against her safety are getting worse. As the letter concludes, “I hope you can receive me as soon as possible, and that you are aware that my life is in danger if the Mexican State refuses to protect me.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: center;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;" class="">###</span></div><br class=""><br class=""><div class="">
Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">
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