Please take action now! Send a letter to the Mexican authorities demanding protection of the life and integrity of the CAT labor rights advocates and asking for a swift, thorough, and immediate investigation, as well as all possible measures taken to ensure the safety of all CAT members and employees.

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Your Message: The Honorable Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa President of Mexico Mexico City, Mexico The Honorable José Francisco Blake Mora Secretary General of Mexico Mexico City, Mexico The Honorable Arturo Chávez Chávez Attorney General of Mexico Mexico City, Mexico The Honorable Mario Marín Governor, State of Puebla Puebla, Mexico Dear Esteemed Official: I am writing to express grave concern over reports I have received from Mexico that members of the Worker Support Centre (CAT), a labour rights organization that has been supporting organizing efforts at two Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI) factories in Puebla, Mexico, have been subject to multiple acts of intimidation. As long as the threats and violence continue, their lives remain at risk and their work impeded. On December 20, 2010, unidentified robbers broke into the CAT offices and scrawled the following message on the wall: YOU DO NOT KNOW WHO YOU ARE MESSING WITH. The robbers hacked into the e-mail address of Blanca Velázquez, CAT’s Executive Director, and the CAT institutional account, stole paper and electronic documents, and destroyed equipment, causing more than 200,000 pesos in damage. On January 11, 2011, the robbers sent another intimidating message to the CAT team through the hacked CAT institutional e-mail account, describing in detail an earlier violent attack on an activist in Mexico: “KIDNAPPING OF DIGNA OCHOA: In October of 1999 various subjects entered her home, gagged her, blindfolded her and interrogated her during approximately nine hours, to then abandon her tied to her bed by her hands and feet, next to an open gas tank. She was able to free herself and tried calling the police, but the line had been cut.” These recent acts of intimidation follow months of violence directed at the CAT. On April 28, 2010, two members of the CAT were assaulted. On August 9, three more members of the CAT were threatened while doing fieldwork at JCI. The masked men asked the workers to tell Blanca that if she continued to "mess with CROM", a national federation that holds what is widely acknowledged to be a “protection contact” at the JCI FINSA plant, "there would be consequences." In light of the continued violence and acts of intimidation, I respectfully request that the Mexican government take swift action to protect the life and integrity of labour rights activists Blanca Velázquez, Catalina Guzman, Victoria Hernandez, Cecilia Media and Enrique Morales Montaño, and all members of the CAT. I also urge the government to conduct a thorough investigation of the events that transpired, keeping the highest international standards in mind. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 12.2, establishes that No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. I urge the government to conduct a thorough investigation of the events that transpired, in keeping with this international standard. Thank you for your attention. Sincerely,