MEXICO CITY -- An arrest warrant has been issued for a former union boss at a Ford Motor Co. plant near the capital in connection with the killing of a worker during a plant riot, a Mexico City newspaper said Thursday.
The warrant was issued for Hector Uriarte Martinez, leader of the ruling party-affiliated Confederation of Mexican Workers, or CTM, on the recommendation of the National Human Rights Commission, La Jornada said.
Uriarte is wanted for his alleged involvement in the death of Cleto Nigmo Urbina who was killed during a January 1990 riot at the Ford plant in Cuautitlan.
Some 10 others were injured when more than 400 workers armed with pistols iron bars and submachine guns rioted after some workers attempted to leave the CTM and join an independent union. Dissident workers accused the CTM of sending in professional thugs to prevent the union defection.
The attorney general of the state of Mexico, where the plant is located, promised to comply with the warrant and arrest Uriarte who now lives in Hermosillo, Sonora. The warrant was issued by the state governor, La Jornada said.
The rights commission also asked the state attorney general to investigate why no arrest was made after previous requests were made to detain Uriarte.
'There is no justification for a nine-month delay in the arrest,' the commission said. Uriarte is wanted for murder, assault, burglary and gun smuggling, La Jornada said.
The commission was set up in June 1990 to investigate human-rights violations but can only make recommendations and has no power of enforcement.
