Definitive Report - Report No 199, March 1980

Case No 901 (Nicaragua) - Complaint date: 27-FEB-78 - Closed

78. Cases Nos. 901 and 914 were examined by the Committee in May 1979, when it submitted an interim report.

1. 78. Cases Nos. 901 and 914 were examined by the Committee in May 1979, when it submitted an interim report.
2. 79. Since it last examined these cases the Committee has received communications from the former Government (28 May 1979), the Latin American Central of Workers (CLAT) (2 June 1979), the World Confederation of Labour (5 June 1979), this same Confederation jointly with the world Federation for the Metallurgical Industry (11 June 1979), the World Federation of Agricultural workers (20 June 1979) and the new Government (16 January 1980).
3. 80. 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. Last examination of the case by the Committee

1. 81. Cases Nos. 901 and 914 concern various allegations which the Committee decided to classify under four headings in order to facilitate its examination of these cases.
   • Allegations relating to measures taken against the CTN
2. 82. The complainants alleged that the headquarters of the Nicaraguan Central of Workers (CTN) had been raided by military and security forces and that a number of its leaders had been arrested and ill-treated while others had disappeared. The Government replied to these allegations by stating that no registered workers, association existed with the name of Nicaraguan Central of Workers. Referring to the reasons for the arrest of Messrs. Huembes and Velarde, mentioned by the complainants, the Government stated that their arrest was unconnected with their trade union activities, but related to other activities constituting a threat to the security of the State and a breach of the peace.
3. 83. At its May-June 1979 Session, the Governing Body, on the Committee's recommendation, requested the Government to furnish information as to the reasons for the raid on the CTN's headquarters as well as details of the specific acts of which Messrs. Huembes and Velarde had been accused, and in particular the nature of the material found in their possession.
   • Allegations relating to the death of the trade union leader Luis Medrano Flores
4. 84. The complainants alleged that Mr. Luis Medrano Flores, General Secretary of the Confederation of Trade Union Unification, had been killed on 9 January 1978 while distributing leaflets announcing a demonstration. The complainants claimed that the murder had been committed by members of a patrol frequently seen around district police station XIII, who were not in uniform and were travelling in a private can The Government replied that Mario José Pérez Rodríguez had been identified as the killer of Mr. Medrano Flores and placed at the disposal of the judicial authorities, which had issued a warrant for the arrest of Mr. Pérez Rodríguez and two persons who had been with him. The Government supplied the text of this arrest warrant.
5. 85. At its May-June 1979 Session the Governing Body, on the Committee's recommendation, expressed its concern over this murder and requested the Government to keep it informed as to the outcome of the legal proceedings initiated against the presumed murderer and his accomplices, and to supply the text of the judgement when it was pronounced, together with the reasons adduced therefore.
   • Other allegations
6. 86. The complainants alleged that the home of Mr. Mariano Mendoza, Industrial Disputes Secretary of the Confederation of Trade Union Unification, had been raided by members of the National Guard, who had arrested one of his sons, and that Mr. Domingo Sánchez Salgado, an official of the Nicaraguan General Confederation of Workers, had been arrested by the police. The Government replied that no repression was exercised against any trade union organisation or its members, and that it would supply further information when it received the reports it had requested from the competent authorities.
7. 87. When it last examined the case the Governing Body, on the Committee's recommendation, requested the Government for additional information on these allegations, and in particular on the alleged arrest of Mr. Sánchez Salgado.

B. Recent developments

• (a) Communication from the former Government
  88. 88 On 28 May 1979, the former Government supplied a certified photocopy of the record of the criminal proceedings initiated in the Third District Criminal Court in Nicaragua against Messrs. Mario José Pérez Rodriguez, Leonel García Mairena and Francisco José Pérez Gutiérrez, charged with the murder of the trade union leader Luis Medrano Flores. According to the Government, he was killed on 9 January 1978. Legal proceedings were initiated on this ground in which the three accused stated that in their capacity as honorary police officers in the service of Police Division XIII they had been carrying out a vigilance patrol when Mr. Medrano was killed, and one of them, Mr. Mario Pérez Rodríguez, confessed to having accidentally fired the shot that killed him.
• (b) Further allegations by the complainants
  89. 89 On 2 June 1979 the Latin American Central of Workers submitted further allegations with respect to the occupation of the national headquarters of the Nicaraguan Central of porkers and the arrest of 28 employees of the undertaking UNIMAP MACOSIC and members of the Central's executive Committee.
  90. 90 On 5 June 1979 the world Confederation of Labour, and on 11 June 1979 this same Confederation jointly with the World Federation for the Metallurgical Industry, submitted allegations referring to the same events as are mentioned in the preceding paragraph, with the addition of names of arrested or missing workers. On 20 June 1979, the World Federation of Agricultural Workers submitted allegations referring to the same events, specifying that they had occurred on 1 June and that the only reason for this police action appeared to be the fact that the CTN had announced that it was calling a strike for 4 June.
• (c) Communication from the new Government
  91. 91 On 16 January 1980, the new Government of the Republic of Nicaragua sent a communication in which it replied to the allegations concerning the measures taken against the CTN and the death of the trade union leader Luis Medrano Flores.
  92. 92 The Government states in this communication that it requested the CTN for information with respect to the complaints presented to the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association and was supplied with a statement, which, according to the Government, gives a clear answer to the requests made by the Governing Body in paragraph 282(c) of the Committee's 194th Report. This statement is signed by Messrs. Carlos Humberto Trejo and Enrique Velarde Ortiz, General Secretary and Organisational Secretary, respectively, of the CTN, to whom reference has precisely been made in several of the allegations under consideration, and declares that they were "arrested and imprisoned by the Somoza regime", but that now they are free and working actively in the trade union movement. Referring to the allegation made by the former Government to the ILO to the effect that the CTN had no legal personality and that they had not been arrested on account of their trade union activities but for other reasons, they claim that such allegations formed part of a dictatorial policy of anti-union persecution declared by them to be characteristic of the political regime which formerly governed the country.
  93. 93 In the same communication, the Government states that the file on the killing of Mr. Luis Medrano Flores has disappeared from the Third District Criminal Court, according to a report from the new judge officiating in this court, and that all that can be found is an entry in the register of judgements to the effect that an arrest warrant was issued in respect of the accused, but that this entry was never signed by the former judge or by the clerk of the court. The Government states that it requested information about the case form the Confederation of Trade Union Unification, of which Luis Medrano Flores had been the General Secretary, and that this organisation sent a letter addressed to the Director-General of the ILO, the text of which the Government appends to its communication, and in which it is claimed that the killer or killers of Mr. Medrano were never really brought to trial and that "they are entirely at liberty, to such an extent that during the final stages of the insurrection they were seen fighting against our people". The communication adds that investigations have established that the actual killer of Medrano, Mario José Pérez Rodriguez or Mario Rios Pérez, was given asylum at the Guatemalan. Embassy, although this was subsequently denied by the Chargé d'Affaires at that Embassy, which gives grounds for the suspicion that he has changed his name.

C. The Committee's Conclusions

1. 94. With regard to the allegations relating to the raiding of the CTN's headquarters and the arrest of officials of that organisation, the Committee notes with interest the communication from the new Government and the statement by the CTN officials in question that they are at liberty and performing their trade union functions. In these circumstances, the Committee considers that this aspect of the case does not call for further examination. The same remark may be applied to the fresh allegations made by the CLAT, which also refer to the events involving the CTN.
2. 95. With regard to the allegations relating to the killing of the trade union leader Luis Medrano Flores, the Committee notes the information provided by the present Government. It feels bound to recall in general terms that a climate of violence such as that surrounding the killing of Luis Medrano Flores constitutes a serious impediment to the exercise of individual rights, and that accordingly such acts warrant the taking of severe measures by the authorities. In the present case, bearing in mind the developments that have taken place in the country since the complaints were presented, the Committee considers that this aspect of the case does not call for further examination.
3. 96. The Committee observes that the Government's communication makes no reference to the allegations mentioned in paragraph 86 of this report.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 97. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) with regard to the allegations relating to the raiding of the CTN's headquarters, the arrest of officials of that organisation and the death of Mr. Luis Medrano Flores, to decide, for the reasons set forth in paragraphs 94 and 95 above, that these aspects of the case do not call for further examination;
   • (b) to request the Government to inform the Committee as to the present situation of the on of Mr. Mariano Mendoza, an official of the Confederation of Trade Union Unification, and of Mr. Domingo Sánchez Salgado, an official of the Nicaraguan General Confederation of Workers, who according to the complainants were arrested in 1979.