Definitive Report - Report No 103, 1968

Case No 425 (Cuba) - Complaint date: 17-DEC-64 - Closed

1. 87. This case was already examined by the Committee at its sessions in May 1965, February 1966 and May 1967. On these occasions the Committee submitted to the Governing Body interim reports on the case which appear in paragraphs 159 to 170 of its 83rd Report, paragraphs 111 to 121 of its 87th Report and paragraphs 195 to 212 of its 98th Report respectively. These three reports were approved by the Governing Body.
2. 88. In the previous stages of its examination of the case the Committee formed certain conclusions regarding the sentencing of 17 of the 24 trade unionists whose imprisonment was specifically referred to in the complaint of 17 December 1964 from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
3. 89. The Committee now has the observations and information, dated 21 December 1967, submitted by the Government in respect of the seven remaining persons, as requested in paragraph 212 (c) of the 98th Report of the Committee.
4. 90. Cuba has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 91. According to the facts given in the complaint, the seven trade unionists in question were: Luis Miguel Linsuain, General Secretary of the Gastronomic Federation of Oriente Province; Alberto Garcia, General Secretary of the National Medical Federation; Antonio Dagas, Deputy General Secretary of the Cuban section of the Spanish trade union organisation, National Confederation of Labour (C.N.T.); Leandro Barreras, member of the Executive Board of the National Federation of Sugar Workers; Norberto Abreu, Secretary of the Federation of Printing and Allied Trades; Carmen Méndez Linares, employee of the Confederation of Cuban Workers; and Juan Manuel Reines, leader of the trade union section of the clandestine movement.
2. 92. From the Government's communication dated 21 December 1967 and from the texts of the judgments attached thereto it emerges that all these persons-except Mr. Leandro Barreras-were judged by revolutionary courts or councils of war by virtue of penal provisions quoted in the respective judgments, and sentenced to various terms 01 imprisonment.
3. 93. According to the information submitted by the Government, Mr. Luis Linsuain was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment on 25 May 1962 for an offence against the state authorities. He is accused of taking part in the activities of a counter-revolutionary group known as M.D.C, which is alleged to have planned to overthrow the Government by means of an armed rising, acts of sabotage, stocking and transporting arms, and attacks on government officials. Mr. Alberto Garcia was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment " for his direct participation in acts constituting an offence against the state authorities ", which are alleged to have consisted of counter-revolutionary activities in which he took part as an active member of a clandestine organisation known as the " National Liberation Army ", in which, according to the judgment, he held the rank of captain. The sentence was passed on 26 October 1963. Mr. Antonio Dagas was sentenced to three years and seven months' imprisonment " for his direct participation in acts constituting an offence against the state authorities "; together with other persons, he is said to have committed acts of terrorism, such as planting a bomb under a car parked in front of the offices of the C.T.C.R. (Confederation of Workers of Revolutionary Cuba). Mr. Norberto Abreu was sentenced on 15 June 1962 to 20 years' imprisonment " for his direct participation in acts constituting offences against the unity and stability of the nation " as a member of the counter-revolutionary Organisation known as the "Movement of 30 November", in which he is said to have been responsible for propaganda throughout the country. Juan Manuel Reines and Maria del Carmen Méndez Linares were sentenced on 29 October 1962 to nine and three years' imprisonment respectively " for their direct participation in carrying out acts constituting offences against the unity and stability of the nation, and against the state authorities, arson, violence and possession of explosives ". Both are alleged to have belonged to an organisation known as the " People's Revolutionary Movement ", which is said to have carried out acts of sabotage directed against industrial and commercial centres as well as against public services.
4. 94. With regard to Mr. Leandro Barreras, the Government states that the investigations which have been carried out have revealed no evidence whatsoever of any legal proceedings nor of a previous criminal record to show that this person has undergone or is undergoing a prison sentence or temporary deprivation of freedom.
5. 95. From the judgments sent by the Government it emerges that the additional penalties inflicted on the accused included the confiscation of all their goods. Names of defence counsel are also given. In some cases these appear to have been chosen by the accused and in others to have been appointed by the courts.
6. 96. The Government repeats what it stated in another case examined by the Committee, in respect of the standards applied by the revolutionary courts. It declares that in these cases too the accused participated directly in the commission of serious and sufficiently distinct acts, defined as offences under legislation promulgated before they were committed, " and that they have nothing to do with genuine trade union militancy and activities ".

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 97. The Committee notes that the Government has been unable to find any evidence that Mr. Leandro Barreras, one of the 24 trade unionists named in the complaint, has been imprisoned or tried. It points out, on the basis of the observations of the Government and of the texts of the judgments submitted by the latter at various stages in the examination of the case, that the acts imputed to each of the 23 remaining trade unionists, which provided grounds for the sentences, do not appear to bear any relation to trade union activities. The Committee has already pointed out that the procedure applied by the revolutionary courts dealing with these cases is the extraordinary procedure laid down in the 1896 Act respecting Trials in Cuba Under Arms.

The Committee's recommendations

• (a) to the importance it attaches to the strict observance of the basic principles of freedom of association;
• (b) to the importance it attaches to the principle that trade unionists, like all other persons, should be entitled to the safeguards of normal judicial procedure.