Interim Report - Report No 76, 1964

1. 108. The International Federation of Christian Trade Unions (I.F.C.T.U.) addressed to the Director-General on 9 February 1962 a telegram containing a request for urgent intervention by the I.L.O on the ground that the Cuban trade union leader Mr. Reinaldo González was in imminent danger of execution. The Director-General brought the contents of this telegram to the notice of the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba by two telegrams dated 9 February 1962.
2. 109. By a letter of 22 February 1962 the Director-General transmitted the complaint to the Government of Cuba in accordance with the normal procedure for the examination of complaints of alleged infringements of trade union rights. In his letter he explained to the Government that, as matters involving human life were raised in the complaint, the case fell within the category of cases regarded by the Governing Body as urgent, in accordance with the decision taken by the Governing Body at its 140th Session (November 1958), and, for this reason, requested the Government to furnish as speedy a reply as possible.
3. 110. The Government replied on 7 April 1964.
4. 111. 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).

112. Reference has been made to this case by the Committee in its 60th, 64th, 66th, 68th, 70th, 72nd and 74th Reports. The Government has on a number of occasions sent a reply to the effect that the complaint, together with the repeated requests that it furnish its observations as a matter of urgency, had been referred to the competent organ of the Revolutionary Government for comment. Not having received the Government's observations, the Committee has repeatedly been obliged to adjourn its examination of the complaint. In paragraph 218 of its 70th Report the Committee having regard to the fact that a question of life or death was at stake in this case, recommended the Governing Body:

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2. (a) to deplore the fact that the Government of Cuba, despite the promise contained in its communication dated 4 April 1962 and the requests addressed to it on eight occasions, has not furnished the reply necessary to permit of the examination of this case in full knowledge of the facts;
3. (b) to express to the Government its earnest hope that it will not fail to fulfil, as a matter of urgency, the promise to furnish a reply made in its communication dated 4 April 1962.
4. 113. At its 36th Session (February 1964) the Committee took note of a communication from the Government stating that its observations would be forwarded, and requested it to furnish the said observations, as a matter of special urgency, prior to the Committee's June 1964 session.
5. 114. The complainants declared in their communication of 9 February 1962 that a trade union leader, Reinaldo González, was in imminent danger of execution, and begged the I.L.O to intervene to prevent the execution.
6. 115. In its reply of 7 April 1964 the Government states that Mr. González was tried and convicted by the competent courts in conformity with laws which were already in force prior to the commission of the offences of which he was accused. Mr. González had engaged in subversive activities, accompanied by acts of arson and other forms of havoc, and had confessed to having committed these acts and given his reasons for doing so. He is at present serving a term of imprisonment of a length appropriate to the magnitude and harmfulness to the community of his criminal conduct in defiance of law and order.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 116. Repeatedly in the past, where allegations that trade union leaders or workers had been arrested or detained for trade union activities had been met by governments with statements that the arrests or detentions were made for subversive activities, for reasons of internal security or for common law crimes, the Committee has followed the rule that the governments concerned should be requested to submit further and as precise information as possible concerning the arrests or detentions and the precise reasons which led to them. If, in certain cases, the Committee has concluded that allegations relating to the arrest or detention of trade union militants did not call for further examination, this has been after it has received information from the governments concerned showing sufficiently precisely and with sufficient detail that the arrests or detentions were in no way occasioned by trade union activities but solely by activities outside the trade union sphere, which were either prejudicial to public order or of a political nature. Moreover, the Committee has repeatedly asked governments to send information on judicial proceedings and their results, in view of the importance which such information might have in aiding the Committee to appreciate whether or not allegations were well founded.