Definitive Report - Report No 172, March 1978

Case No 769 (Nicaragua) - Complaint date: 14-NOV-73 - Closed

1. 15. The Committee has already examined this case at its sessions in November 1975 and February 1976. In November 1975 it submitted an interim report in paragraphs 270 to 282 of its 153rd Report.
2. 16. Nicaragua has ratified both 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. 17. The allegations still outstanding concern the arrest, in August 1973, of Messrs. Julio Guardián, Ofilio Garcia, Antonio Centeno and Francisco Palacios, leaders of the Textile Workers' Union, at the time when a general strike was started in the textile industry. According to the WCL, these persons were still in detention in November 1973 without any specific charge having been brought against them, and it was not known what authority had ordered and maintained their detention. The Government having submitted no information on this aspect of the case, the Committee recommended the Governing Body, at its November 1975 session, to request the Government to indicate as soon as possible the situation concerning the trade union leaders arrested, to state whether they had appeared before a court and, if so, to supply the text of the court findings and the reasons given therefor.
2. 18. In this connection the Government stated in its communication of 20 December 1975 that it was the legal advisers of the firm of Fabritex who, in 1973, had denounced directly to the criminal judiciary the activities of certain persons who, according to the Government, could not be qualified as trade union leaders. It added that the case in question was closed and that it "understood" that these persons had been set at liberty long ago.
3. 19. At its session in February 1976, the Committee decided to transmit to the complainant organisation the substance of the Government's observations and to invite it to make any comments it wished thereon, on the understanding that the Government would have the opportunity to reply to these comments.
4. 20. In a communication dated 22 June 1977, the WCL confirmed that the persons named in the complaint were no longer in custody. The WCL stated that they had been arrested on the occasion of a general strike called in the textile industry in August 1973. There was absolutely no doubt, continued the complainants, that the leaders of the Textile Workers' Union had spent many long months in prison, and that they had been detained on account of their trade union activities.
5. 21. The text of this communication was transmitted to the Government, which has not furnished any observations upon it.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 22. The Committee notes that the persons named in the complaint were released long ago. It must observe, however, that the statements of the complainants and of the Government as to the grounds for their arrest are contradictory: according to the WCL, the measures in question were connected with their trade union activities, whereas according to the Government, these persons cannot be qualified as trade union leaders.
2. 23. The Committee notes that the persons named in the complaint and claimed by the WCL to be trade union leaders were arrested on the occasion of a general strike in the textile industry. It notes that the Government has given no reasons as to why it considers that these persons are not trade union leaders. The Committee considers that it was incumbent upon the Government to show that the measures taken did not arise out of the trade union activities of the persons in question. In this connection the Committee regrets that the Government has provided no information concerning the legal proceedings instituted against these persons, nor has it furnished the text of the court findings, as requested by the Committee.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 24. Subject to the reservations expressed in paragraph 23, and bearing in mind that the persons named were released long ago, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that the case does not call for further examination.