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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2006 
Mexico Asks Interpol to Help Arrest Union Boss
 Reuters
| | Members of the Mexican workers union march in Mexico City 07 March, 2006. More of 4,000 Mexican workers marched to protest in support of their dismissed leader of the miners' union, Napoleon Gomez. (Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images) |
Mexico City - Mexico has asked world police body Interpol to help capture the fugitive leader of Mexico's main miners union, who is accused of stealing millions of dollars from workers, the government said Friday.
Presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Napoleon "Napo" Gomez, who claims to represent 270,000 miners nationwide, would be arrested even if he was not in Mexico.
"The Attorney General has put in a request for Interpol's cooperation to capture this person, who is now a fugitive from Mexican justice," Aguilar said.
Aguilar told reporters the Attorney General's office would seek extradition if Gomez was arrested overseas.
Gomez, who has made few public appearances since the fraud accusations surfaced in February, recently said he was in Canada, where he has received the support of the United Steel Workers.
In recent months he has been in regular contact with journalists via telephone and made a virtual appearance at a mine union convention in a video tape.
Despite the charges of misuse of funds, Gomez enjoys the support of the vast majority of the local chapters of the mine union, many of which have launched strikes and stoppages to back him.
Gomez led the union from 2003, when he took over from his father, who was at the helm for 40 years. This year, amid the accusations of fraud, Gomez was ousted in a leadership challenge that many union members say was orchestrated by the Labor Ministry.
The Oxford-educated former businessman enjoys high popularity because he is a tough negotiator who has won substantial pay rises for union members. Many members are also outraged at the leadership challenge, which they say amounted to an illegal coup to push Gomez aside.
Since being ousted Gomez has been re-elected twice by union members, but the government has refused to recognize him as leader, preferring his rival, Elias Morales.
Gomez is accused by the government and some workers of dissolving a trust fund established by copper miner Grupo Mexico in a deal to share the proceeds of a mine privatization with workers.
The fund originally contained $55 million. The government and some workers say he put a large chunk of the money in private bank accounts. Gomez says most has been distributed to workers, with the rest in process.
He says the fraud claims come from workers who were not entitled to a share of the cash.
Gomez has tried to blame his current problems on government retaliation for his stance that a coal mine explosion that killed 65 in northern Mexico this year was "industrial homicide" on the part of the mine owner and the government.
However, support for the union is low in the region, where accidents are common and workers say union leaders don't do enough to fight for better safety standards.
Corruption has historically been common among Mexican union leaders, who often cling to power for decades and live extravagant lifestyles, owning multiple mansions and traveling by helicopter. |
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