Interim Report - Report No 244, June 1986

Case No 1343 (Colombia) - Complaint date: 08-JUL-85 - Closed

1. 357. The Committee examined this case at its February 1986 meeting and presented interim conclusions to the Government Body (see 243rd Report, paras. 570 to 587, approved by the Governing Body at its 232nd Session (February-March 1986)).
2. 358. Subsequently the Trade Union Confederation of Colombian Workers, in a communication dated 12 March 1986, and the World Federation of Trade Unions, in communications dated 24 March and 13 May 1986, made further allegations. The Government sent its comments in communications of 1, 16 and 30 April 1986.
3. 359. Colombia 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. Previous examination of the case

1. 360. The complainants alleged the administrative suspension of the legal personality of the six trade union organisations which had organised the National Day of Work Stoppages on 20 June 1985, and stated that on account of this protest hundreds of workers were detained and that workers in the Vianini Entrecanales undertaking (Messrs. Rafael Mauriao Mendoza Aguilar, Pedro Antonio Rodríguez Rojas and Pablo Emilio Leal Cruz) and the Colombian Tobacco Company (Messrs. Jairo Bernal, Rolando López, Alirio Useche, Reinaldo Medina, Jorge Rey, Jaime Cepeda, Orlando Camacho, Jorge Nelson Murcia, Fernando Acosta, Jairo Lesmes Bulla, Humberto Riano and Justo Calderón) were dismissed. In addition, the complainants alleged that the trade union leaders Messrs. Hernando Yate and Rubén Castaño had been murdered.
2. 361. The Government stated that the suspension of the legal personality of the organisations in question was due to conduct contrary to the law when, on 20 June 1985, they called a strike that was not related to labour issues, to disturb public order. The Government also pointed out that in exceptional situations of states of emergency, as in this case, the President is empowered to act to preserve threatened or real disturbances of law and order. Thus, stated the Government, Decree No. 1658 of 19 June 1986 (in force for one year) sets out sanctions (six months' suspension of legal personality) to be applied to the unions involved in any way in work stoppages, in accordance with the Government's constitutional obligation to preserve public order. The warning issued by the Government in its Decree aimed at protecting trade unionism from being used by subversive groups for non-occupational aims, such as damage to the economy and paralysis of transport. The Government also stated in its communication of 23 October 1985 that the sanctions on the six organisations had now been lifted and their legal personality restored. In addition, the vast majority of the persons detained on 29 June had been released and only ten were serving prison sentences after having been tried.
3. 362. The Committee noted that even when special circumstances have been cited by governments, it has maintained that any measures of suspension or dissolution by administrative authority, when taken during an emergency situation, should be accompanied by normal judicial safeguards, including the right of appeal to the courts against such dissolution or suspension. Measures taken to withdraw the legal personality of a trade union should be taken through judicial and not administrative action. In the present case, the Committee noted that the six affected unions had appealed to the Minister of Labour against the withdrawal of legal personality and that no judicial appeal was available. It accordingly considered that the action taken was contrary to Article 4 of Convention No. 87.
4. 363. As for the alleged detention of hundreds of workers during the National Day of Work Stoppages, the Committee observed that the Government stated that of the persons detained on that day the vast majority had been released and only ten were serving prison sentences after having been tried. The Committee regretted that neither the complainants nor the Government had supplied sufficiently detailed information concerning these alleged arrests or the circumstances in which they were said to have occurred.
5. 364. In these circumstances the Committee made the following recommendations (see 243rd report, paragraph 587):
6. "The Committee requests the Government to supply its observations on the dismissal of 15 named workers in the Vianini Entrecanales undertaking and the Colombian Tobacco Company, as well as on the deaths of two named trade union leaders on 28 November 1985.
7. The Committee considers that the administrative suspension of the six trade union organisations which participated in the National Day of Protest on 20 June 1985, although lifted in October 1985, was unaccompanied by judicial safeguards and was therefore contrary to Article 4 of Convention No. 87."
8. B. The Government's reply
9. 365. In its communication of 1 April 1986 the Government states that the resolutions suspending the legal personality of the six trade union organisations explicitly permitted the lodging of an appeal for its restoration with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and, in addition, that the law itself (the Administrative and Claims Code) guarantees the exercise of an action for annulment or an action to re-establish a right against such resolutions before the administrative courts. Consequently the trade union organisations whose legal personality was suspended did have legal channels available to argue that the measures taken were null and void or to require their rights to be restored. In view of the foregoing the Government does not consider that its action was contrary to the provisions of Article 4 of Convention No. 87.
10. 366. The Government adds that at no time was anyone sentenced to imprisonment. The Government had made it quite clear to the Committee that only ten persons were serving a short sentence ("arresto") for criminal offences after due judicial proceedings with all the safeguards of defence provided by law. A number of persons had also been detained and released within 24 hours because, regardless of their status as workers, they had committed criminal offences punishable by short sentences.
11. 367. The Government states in relation to the dismissals from the Vianini Entrecanales undertaking and the Colombian Tobacco Company that it will transmit details on the dismissals in the latter company as soon as it receives the information it has requested from the General Directorate of Labour. It indicates, however, that the grounds for unlawful collective suspension of work are listed in section 450 of the Labour Code and that one of these was noted in the situation at the Vianini Entrecanales undertaking, namely "where such collective suspension of work is for any purpose other than an occupational or economic purpose".
12. 368. With respect to the allegations concerning the murder of the trade union leaders Messrs. Yate Bonilla and Rubén Castaño in November 1985, the Government states in its communications of 1 and 16 April 1986 that the investigation into the death of Mr. Yate was commenced by the Third Criminal Examining Magistrate of Granada (Meta) and sent on to the Second Higher Magistrate of Villavicencio, who is responsible for the case when the investigatory stage is completed; as part of the summary proceedings, investigations are at present being carried out to identify those responsible for the crime. The Government also states that investigations into the death of Rubén Castaño were carried out by the Fifth Criminal Examining Magistrate of Manizales who forwarded them to the First Higher Court of that city so that the case could be heard. The Government states that it will provide additional information on both cases. With respect to the disappearance of the trade union leaders Messrs. Miguel Angel Díaz and Faustino López, the Government states that on 12 February 1986 proceedings were commenced against Mr. Jorge Lués Barrero for the punishable offence of kidnapping Messrs. Díaz and López. The case is being heard before the First Criminal Magistrate of the circuit of Tunja (Boyacá).
13. 369. In its communication of 30 April 1986, the Government supplies a series of information received from the military authorities (see Annex II) on the incidents alleged in the last communications from the complainants. In this communication it is stated that the Army has no knowledge of the situation of the persons not appearing in its list of information (which appears as Annex II) although it will continue to collaborate with the persons and organisations which have made complaints so as to allow courts to deliver their sentences.
14. C. New allegations
15. 370. In their communications of 12 and 24 March 1986, the Trade Union Confederation of Colombian Workers (CSTC) and the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) allege that between 1984 and 1986 many attacks had taken place in Colombia on the life, safety and physical well-being of trade union leaders and trade unionists, and there had been serious interference in trade union activities such as searches and raids on trade union premises, disruption of trade union meetings and violent attacks on workers exercising the right to strike. The CSTC and the WFTU refer in particular to the murder of 34 trade union leaders and trade unionists and the disappearance or kidnapping of eight trade union leaders and 70 workers. (The information supplied by the complainants is contained in the annex.)
16. 371. The complainants add that in the city of Cúcuta, Santander del Norte, on 28 January 1985, the police command ordered the Federation of Workers of North Santander - FENOSTRA - to provide information on the number of organisations affiliated to FENOSTRA, the name, address and telephone number of all its leaders and their functions, including the leaders of FENOSTRA. At Manizales City, Caldas, the police secret service, F-2, sent the Federation of Workers of Caldas - FEDECALDAS - a request to let it have the list of the leadership of FEDECALDAS, together with personal details of each leader: residence, telephone number and the political affiliation of each of them. The note is signed by Lieutenant Carlos Arturo Henao Restrepo. At Nobsa, Boyacá, on 3 June 1985 the substation police commander, Edgar Contreras Chaparro, sent a circular to the president of the workers of the Boyacá Cement company, requesting the full names, identity card numbers, place of residence and political affiliation of the organisation's workers and leaders.
17. 372. The complainants also allege that on 20 January 1985 at Bogotá police groups fired tear gas at a group of workers of the Croydon company who were on strike. On 19 February 1985 in Barrancabermeja, Santander, troops from the Colombia battalion surrounded and searched the headquarters of the Federation of Petroleum Workers, FEDEPETROL. On 25 February 1985 at Calé paramilitary groups placed explosives in the headquarters of the Federation of Workers of Valle del Cauca, FEDETAV. In April and May 1985 attacks were made on the premises of FEDETAV in Palmira and the Cementos del Valle trade union at Yumbo; there was a fresh attack on the FEDETAV headquarters at Cali and an attack against the headquarters of the Trade Union of Workers of Santander (USITRAS) at Bucaramanga.
18. 373. The WFTU alleges in its communication of 13 May 1986 that on 30 April the police fired on railway workers in Cali and that on 6 May the police attacked strikers in the Unica Textile Company in Manizales. In addition,on 7 May the headquarters of the Combined Front of the region of Magdalena Medio were burnt out.
19. 374. Lastly, CSTC and WFTU ask for an ILO mission to visit Colombia.

D. The Committee's conclusions

1. 375. In the first place the Committee notes with concern that subsequent to its previous examination of the case the complainant organisations submitted extremely serious allegations implicating in particular the military, paramilitary and police forces and concerning attacks on the life, safety and physical well-being of a great many trade union leaders and trade unionists and concerning violent attacks upon trade union premises and meetings and on workers exercising the right to strike, as well as on the searching of trade union headquarters and various forms of interference in trade union activities. Noting that the Government has sent information only on some of the allegations, in particular concerning certain deaths and disappearances of trade unionists, the Committee calls on the Government to transmit its observations on the other allegations as a matter of urgency.
2. 376. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government concerning two of the allegations examined by the Committee at its February 1986 meeting, which referred to the suspension of the legal personality of six trade union organisations and the detention of workers as a consequence of the National Day of Work Stoppages on 20 June 1985. With regard to the said suspensions of legal personality, the Committee notes that the law did allow the six trade union organisations affected the opportunity of appealing to the judicial authorities. Nevertheless, the Committee wishes to point out that in its previous report (see 243rd Report, para. 583) it noted that the six unions in question had appealed to the Minister of Labour against the withdrawal of legal personality. Since that appeal did not result in suspension of the measure and consequently the organisations could not legally operate while the measure which was the subject of appeal was in force, the Committee must reiterate that the withdrawal of the legal personality of these organisations was contrary to Article 4 of Convention No. 87.
3. 377. The Committee also notes that as a result of the National Day of Work Stoppages on 20 June 1985, only ten persons received short sentences ("arresto") which were imposed because of criminal offences committed.
4. 378. With respect to the alleged dismissals in the Vianini Entrecanales undertaking and the Colombian Tobacco Company, the Committee takes note of the information supplied by the Government and awaits the additional information referred to before entering into an examination of this allegation.
5. 379. As regards the alleged murder of trade union leaders, the Committee observes that criminal trials have been commenced with respect to the death of Messrs. Yate Bonilla, Rubén Castaño, Víctor Manuel Aroca, José Rutelio Quintero, Oscar Salazar Ospina, Jorge Luis Ortega Cogolle and Dionisio Hernán Calderón.
6. 380. The Committee also observes that trials have been commenced concerning the disappearance of trade union leaders Miguel Angel Diaz, Fautino López and Gustav Alcalde Ospina, and that the Government has undertaken to send information on the other alleged disappearances. It also notes that, according to the Government, José Antonio Villamizar Sánchez has regained complete freedom and José Aurelio Mesa has neither been detained nor tried.
7. 381. In considering allegations of the murder or disappearance of trade union leaders on previous occasions (see, for example, 207th Report, Cases Nos. 997 and 999 (Turkey), para. 304), the Committee has requested the Government to ensure that a judicial inquiry is carried out as soon as possible with a view to elucidating the facts in full and determining responsibilities. The Committee deeply regrets the alleged deaths and disappearances and requests the Government to inform it of developments in the judicial investigations and of the results of the trials under way into certain deaths and disappearances; it requests the Government to send its observations on the remaining cases of deaths or disappearance of trade unionists to which it has not yet replied.
8. 382. In view of the seriousness of the allegations in this case, the Committee considers that it would be of considerable use to have an ILO mission visit the country in order to obtain all the information necessary for a thorough examination of the case.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 383. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to approve the present interim report and, in particular, the following conclusions:
   • a) The Committee notes with concern that, subsequent to its previous examination of the case, the complainant organisations have submitted extremely serious allegations implicating in particular the military, paramilitary and police forces and concerning attacks on the life, safety and physical well-being of a great many trade union leaders and trade unionists, concerning violent attacks upon trade union premises and meetings and on workers exercising the right to strike, the searching of trade union headquarters and various forms of interference in trade union activities. The Committee, noting that the Government has provided information only concerning some of the allegations (in particular those relating to certain deaths and disappearances) appeals to the Government to send its observations on the other allegations as a matter of urgency.
   • b) The Committee deeply regrets the alleged deaths and disappearances of trade union leaders and requests the Government to inform it of developments in the judicial investigations and of the results of the trials under way into certain deaths and disappearances to which specific reference has been made.
   • c) With respect to the alleged dismissals in the Vianini Entrecanales undertaking and the Colombian Tobacco Company, the Committee awaits receipt of the additional observations referred to by the Government before entering into an examination of this allegation.
   • d) In view of the seriousness of the allegations in this case, the Committee considers that it would be of considerable use to have an ILO mission visit the country in order to obtain all the information necessary for a thorough examination of the case.

Z. ANNEX

• INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE COMPLAINANT CONCERNING ATTACKS ON THE LIFE,
• SAFETY AND PHYSICAL WELL-BEING OF TRADE UNION LEADERS AND TRADE UNIONISTS
  1. 1 Murdered trade union leaders and trade unionists
• Nicolás López Londoño. President of the Union of Workers of the New Stetic
• Factory-CSTC, murdered in Medellín on 26 May 1985.
• Leonel Roldán. Trade union leader of the Rosellón-Coltejer Textile Factory,
• murdered on 24 May 1985 in Medellín, Antioquia.
• Francisco Javier Correa Muñoz. Trade union leader of the Rosellón- Coltejer
• Textile Factory, murdered at Envigado-Antioquia on 7 June 1985.
• Leonor Marle, Omar Vergara, Solón López and Serafín Herrera. Agricultural
• union activists at San Vicente de Chucuré, Santander, murdered during the
• night of 27 July 1985.
• Dioniso Hernán Calderón. President of the Trade Union of Workers of the
• municipality of Yumbo and national management committee of FENALTRASE,
• murdered on 28 September 1985 in his own house in Yumbo, Valle.
• José Luis Ortega and Oscar Salazar. Members of the executive committee of the
• Union of Agricultural Workers, SINTAGRO, murdered at Urabá, Antioquia, on 3
• October 1985 while discussing the list of claims with banana plantation
• employers.
• Miguel Puerta. Teacher and trade union militant in FECODE, murdered on 27
• August 1985 in Apartadó, Antioquia.
• Hernan Yate. Member of the executive committee of the National Agricultural
• Trade Union Federation, FENSA, murdered in Granada-Meta on 27 November 1985.
• Jaime Quintero Cruz. President of the Medical Association of Valle, ASOMEVA,
• murdered on 7 December 1985 behind his consulting room in Cali City.
• Javier Sanabria Murcia. Teacher and trade union militant, murdered at
• Florencia, Caquetá on 10 December 1985.
• Rubén Castaño. Member of the national executive committee of CSTC and
• President of the Federation of Workers of Caldas, FEDECALDAS-CSTC, murdered on
  28. 28 November 1985 opposite the FEDECALDAS headquarters in Manizales City.
• Víctor Manuel Aroca. Leader of the Trade Union of Agricultural Workers of the
• Department of Tolima and Patriotic Union candidate for the Council of
• Villarrica Tolima, murdered there by the army on 26 February 1986.
• Camelo Gelves Ortega. Agricultural leader of Tibuy, Norte de Santander,
• executed by a military patrol on 4 July 1985.
• Rogelio Sánchez. Regional agricultural leader at Urabá, Antioquia, murdered
• at Chirigodo on 29 November 1985.
• Luis Jesús Leal Guerrero and Víctor Manuel Leal. Agricultural trade uni on
• leaders from Tibuy, Norte de Santander. Detained by the army on 30 November
  1985. 1985 and found murdered some days later.
• Eder Lascarro, Celso Rojas and Jesús Flores. Workers of the Texas Petroleum
• Company and trade union militants in the oil region. Decapitated in the
• Barrancabermeja City by a terrorist paramilitary group known as MAS.
• Angel Amable Arroyabe and Luis Alberto Roa. Teachers and trade union leaders
• of the Association of Teachers of Antioquia. They were killed by a
• paramilitary group at Carepa, Urabá, Antioquia.
• Miguel Puerta. Teacher and trade union militant in the Colombian Federation
• of Teachers, FECODE, murdered on 27 August 1985 at Apartado, Urabá, Antioquia.
• Meyer Rivas. Teacher and trade union militant of FECODE. Murdered on 30
• October 1985 at Pitalito, Huila.
• Alvaro Medina Ochoa. Member of the National Association of Legal Employees
• (ASONAL JUDICIAL). Lawyer and magistrate of the Higher Court of Medellín,
• Antioquia. Murdered in Medellín.
• Julio Manuel Castro Gil. Member of the ASONAL JUDICIAL. Lawyer and Judge of
• the First Higher Court of Bogotá, who was in charge of investigating the
• murder of the Minister of Justice, Dr. Rodrigo Lara Bonilla. Murdered in
• Bogotá on 24 July 1985.
• Pedro Contreras. Militant of the Petroleum Workers' Union - USO - Tribu
• Section - murdered by sub-machine-gun fire by a paramilitary organisation.
• Faeriel Santana. President of the Union of Workers of the Ministry of
• Education, Ocaña Section, Norte de Santander, murdered in his own home and in
• the presence of his wife and children by three paid assassins who boasted that
• they were trade union exterminators.
• Gabriel Anchique Gómez. Doctor and occupational leader. Murdered in his own
• consulting room on 14 January 1986.
• Jaime Bronsteun. Departmental leader of the National Association of Rural
  • Co-operators. Murdered on 11 January 1986 at Timbio.
• José Rutelio Quinto. Banana worker (Turbo, Urabá, Antioquia) died on 19 June
  1985. 1985 when units of the Voltigeros batallion fired on a group of banana workers
• accompanying the negotiating committee which was bringing a list of claims to
• the Mayor of Turbo, just as they were handing over the list. As a result of
• this military action Ovidio Cecerra Puerta, Jesús Mendoza González and Domingo
• Estrada Guerra were also wounded.
  2. 2 Trade union leaders and trade unionists who have been kidnapped or have
• disappeared
• Miguel Angel Diáz. Leader of the National Federation of State Employees,
• FENALTRASE, kidnapped in September 1984 by the MAS paramilitary group at
• Puerto Boyacá.
• Faustino López. Leader of the National Agricultural Trade Union Federation,
• FENSA, kidnapped in September 1984 by the MAS paramilitary group at Puetro
• Boyacá.
• Gustavo Alcalde Ospina. President of the Union of Workers of the Anchicayá
• Electric Power Station, detained on 12 August 1985 by a military patrol in
• Cali.
• José Antonio Villamizar Sánchez. Leader of the Union of Teachers of
• Santander, detained by a six-man military patrol at Guaca Santander on 2
• August 1985. José Aurelio Mesa.
• José Aurelio Mesa. Rural and municipal leader in the district of Casanare,
• detained by a military patrol at Paz de Aripro on 31 August 1985.
• Andrés Luna and Roque Yate Aroca. Rural leaders from Coyaima, Tolima,
• detained by a police patrol on 22 November 1985.
• José Jairo Gómez Cadena. Leader of the print workers at Armenia, Quindéo,
• detained on 22 June 1985 by three men who identified themselves as agents of
  2. F-2, the secret organ of the police.
• Seventy workers of the Malaria Eradication Service. On 25 April 1985 Aldo
• Cadena, President of the National Health Union - SINDES - reported that 70
• workers of the National Malaria Eradication Service, SEM, had disappeared from
• working areas and demanded from the Government their return alive and means of
• subsistence for their families.
  3. 3 Death threats
• Gustavo Osorio. President of the Trade Union Confederation of Colombian
• Workers, CSTC, and President of the National Federation of Construction and
• Cement Workers, receives death threats every day by telephone and letter.
• Angelino Garzón. Trade union leader of workers employed by the State and
• Secretary-General of the Trade Union Confederation of Colombian Workers (CSTC)
• , receives death threats every day by telephone or letter. The other CSTC
• leaders, and the leaders of affiliated organisations, have also received
• threats.
• Aida Avella. President of the National Federation of State Employees -
• FENALTRASE - receives death threats by telephone and letter.
• Jaime Dussan. Secretary-General of FECODE, keeps receiving death threats.
• Gerardo González. Secretary-General of the National Agricultural Trade Union
• Federation of Colombia - FENSA.
• José Galvis. Member of the executive secretariat of FENSA.
• Argemiro Correa. President of SINTAGRO, Urabá, Antioquia.
• Manuel Méndez. Secretary of SINTRABANANO, Urabá, Antioquia.
• ANNEX II
• INFORMATION FROM THE GOVERNMENT CONTAINED IN ITS COMMUNICATION OF 30 APRIL
  1986. 1986
• The disappearance of Mr. Gustavo Alcalde Ospina is being investigated by the
• Prosecutor's Department for the Armed Forces, the body to which the Government
• has addressed a request for detailed information.
• Mr. José Antonio Villamizar Sánchez was tried for the offence of illegal
• possession of arms by the Army's 5th Brigade Command, whose headquarters are
• in Bucaramanga, and was sentenced to conditional release on probation which
• terminated on 17 April 1986, when he regained complete freedom of movement.
• Mr. José Aurelio Mesa has not been detained by any military authority, nor is
• there any indication that he has been tried by the military or ordinary
• criminal courts.
• Mr. Victor Manuel Aroca is being investigated by the 39th Criminal Examining
• Magistrate's Court of the Army's 10th Brigade, whose headquarters are in
• Melgar (Tolima), to which the Government has addressed a request for the
• relevant details.
• The death of Mr. José Rurelio Quintero occurred on 19 June 1985 when he tried
• to disarm a soldier during the actions preparatory to the ill-termed "national
• work stoppages" in which Messrs. Ovidio Briceño Puerta, Jesús Mendoza Gonzáles
• and Domingo Estrada Guerra also took part. The investigations are before the
  12. 12th Criminal Examining Magistrate's Court of Apartadó (Antioquia), to which
• the Government has addressed a request for the pertinent information.
• As regards Messrs. Oscar Salazar Ospina and Jorge Lius Ortega Cogollo,
• investigations were commenced by the 5th Criminal Examining Magistrate's Court
• of Urabá (Antioquia) and passed on to the 10th Criminal Examining Magistrate's
• Court of Medellín, with which the Government is in contact.
• The death of Mr. Dionisio Hernán Calderón is being investigated by the 4th
• Higher Criminal Court of Cali with which the Government is in contact.
• As for Messrs. Andrés Luna, Roque Yate Aroca and José Jairo Gómez,
• information has been requested from the National Police because, according to
• the complainants, they were detained by the police.