Rapport intérimaire - Rapport No. 246, Novembre 1986

1. 381. The Committee on Freedom of Association first examined this case at its meeting of February 1986 and presented an interim report to the Governing Body (see 243rd Report, paras. 570-587), approved by the Governing Body at its 232nd Session (February-March 1986)). Having received new allegations from the complainants as well as various observations by the Government, the Committee once again examined the case at its meeting of May 1986 and presented another interim report (244th Report, paras. 357-383) to the Governing Body. This was approved by the Governing Body at its 233rd Session (May-June 1986).

A. Direct contacts mission

1. 382. The complainants had requested that an ILO mission visit Colombia and in
   • its meeting of May 1986, the Committee believed that "in view of the
   • seriousness of the allegations in this case (... ), 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" (244th
   • Report of the Committee, para. 383(d)).
2. 383. In a communication of 12 June 1986, the Minister of Labour and Social
   • Security of Colombia invited the ILO to "send a mission to visit the country
   • and establish contact with the Government and the democratic employers' and
   • workers' organisations with a view to duly clarifiying the situation". On 13
   • June 1984 the Chairman of the Committee met with the Minister of Labour of
   • Colombia to discuss the case and make arrangements for the mission.
3. 384. The Director-General of the ILO appointed as his representative to carry
   • out this mission Mr. Geraldo von Potobsky and the mission visited Bogotá
   • between 14 and 18 July 1986. The Director-General's representative was
   • accompanied during the mission by Mr. Alberto Odero, member of the Freedom of
   • Association Branch of the International Labour Standards Department, and Mr.
   • Luis Zamudio, Regional Adviser on Standards. The mission report is annexed to
   • the present report (Appendix II).
4. 385. The mission was received by Mr. Jorge Carrillo Rojas, Minister of Labour
   • and Social Security, the authorities and high officials of various ministries
   • as well as representatives of workers' and employers' organisations.
5. 386. 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).
6. 387. The Committee would like to thank Mr. Geraldo von Potobsky for having
   • agreed to undertake the direct contacts mission and for his detailed report on
   • the case which has allowed the Committee to examine the complaint. The
   • Committee considers that the report of the Director-General's representative
   • attests to the usefulness of missions of this kind in clarifying matters
   • arising from allegations by the complainant organisations.
   • B. Developments in the case since the mission
   • New allegations
7. 388. In its communication of 6 June 1985, the WFTU alleges that on 31 May
   • Heriberto Martinez (an official of the CSTC of Cartago) was the victim of
   • gunshot wounds.
8. 389. In communications of 9 and 14 October 1986, the Trade Union
   • Confederation of Colombian Workers (CSTC) and the World Federation of Trade
   • Unions (WFTU) respectively alleged the assassination of the trade union
   • official Jairo Berrio Cardona in Bucaramanga, and that the owners of the
   • COPETRAN undertaking were responsible. The WFTU adds that at the present time
   • many trade union officials have received death threats, including Jorge
   • Carrillo (CUT), Abel Rodríguez (FECODE), Miguel Angel Castro, Gustavo Osorio
   • and Angelino Garzón (CSTC). The content of these communications was
   • transmitted to the Government.
   • New information from the Government
9. 390. In its communications of 8, 22 and 29 October 1986, the Government
   • furnished additional observations on some of the allegations pending and which
   • are reproduced below:
     • - The death of Jaime Bronstein Bonilla. The First Higher Magistrate of
   • Popayán stated that her office was carrying out the investigations into the
   • assassination of Mr. Bronstein by persons unknown. The death took place on 8
   • January 1986 on the outskirts of the town of Timbío (Cauca). At the time of
   • his death, the deceased was vice-president of the National Association of
   • Peasant Users (ANUC). The investigations were started by the Twenty-First
   • Circuit Criminal Court of Cauca, in accordance with instructions from the
   • Directorate of Criminal Proceedings of the same department. This court carried
   • out the necessary investigations, including the taking of statements from
   • various persons close to Mr. Bronstein, up until 10 February of the present
   • year. These statements were enlarged in the presence of the counsel of the
   • judicial police and the Committee on Human Rights of the Public Prosecutor's
   • office which participated directly in the preliminary investigation. On 10
   • February the First Higher Court of Popayán took cognisance of the case and
   • ordered the gathering of the remaining evidence required to establish the
   • truth. For jurisdictional reasons, the matter was placed before the Fourth
   • Circuit Criminal Court of the department of Cauca and on the express
   • instructions of the Public Prosecutor, Dr. Alberto Gómez Tello, visiting
   • barrister attached to the regional Public Prosecutor's office of Cauca, was
   • appointed Special Agent of the Public Prosecutor (government prosecutor,
   • representative of society and guardian of its laws) and took up his functions
10. on 24 February. The above-mentioned Fourth Circuit Criminal Court took
    • statements, in the presence of the Special Agent of the Public Prosecutor and
    • from other persons, and although it is certain that the perpetrator of the
    • crime was seen in Timbío from very early in the day, all the persons stated
    • they could remember nothing nor give any details which could help identify
    • him. The inquiry is still proceeding and the judicial officials and officers
    • of the Public Prosecutor's office have remained in contact with the Bronstein
    • family although they have received very little collaboration from the Cauca
    • branch office of the National Association of Peasant Users (ANUC), which has
    • shown no interest in collaborating in the inquiry since on three occasions the
    • First Higher Court of Popayán sent it a written request for the full name and
    • place of residence of a woman, Gladys N., who is said to have worked as a
    • secretary of Jaime Bronstein in Timbío and who was present with him at the
    • time of his death, but no reply has been received. The First Higher Magistrate
    • of Popayán pointed out that her office, in collaboration with the criminal
    • examining magistrates, will continue to take all the necessary steps to ensure
    • that the crime committed against Jaime Bronstein Bonilla is punished. The
    • Government calls attention to the difficult and thorough inquiry and
    • investigation being carried out by the national police, the examining
    • magistrates, the presiding judge and official of the Public Prosecutor's
    • office, to ensure that the party (parties) responsible for the odious death of
    • the agricultural trade union official be punished and to the lack of interest
    • and collaboration by the trade union association of which he was a member.
      • - Death of Tulio Manuel Castro Gil. Proceedings are under way in the
    • Twenty-Fifth Higher Court of Bogotá, but since they are still at the summary
    • stage, they are being heard by the Forty-Fifth Criminal Examining Magistrate
    • of Bogotá. The magistrate of this court stated that it has not yet been
    • possible to establish who was or were responsible nor the motives for the
    • death of Dr. Castro Gil, First Higher Magistrate of Bogotá. Penal
    • investigations will continue with a view to the identification of the
    • perpetrators of such an execrable crime, although it is suspected that it
    • could have been the work of mercenaries paid by the national and international
      • drug-trafficking mafia, which persists in sowing terror and challenging the
    • authorities which are fighting against this harmful and illegal activity.
      • - Death of Faeriel Alonso Santana Portillo. The Government informed the ILO
    • that it had requested information concerning the stage of the respective
    • proceedings from the Second Higher Magistrate of Ocaña (North Santander). The
    • above-mentioned judicial official stated that the events being investigated
    • occurred in the city of Ocaña on 9 January of the present year at
    • approximately 10 p.m. when three individuals, one of them masked, burst into
    • the house of Faeriel Alonso Santana Portillo and shot him. An inquiry was
    • opened on 10 January by the Eleventh Criminal Court of the same city during
    • the course of which charges were brought against Jaime Alberto Navarro Max, in
    • accordance with the provisions of section 382 of the Code of Penal Procedure.
11. On 19 June of the present year the inquiry was closed and on 31 July the
    • Second Higher Magistrate of the above-mentioned city of Ocaña ruled on the
    • evidentiary value of the summary procedure (investigations made and evidence
    • presented at the preliminary proceedings). A temporary stay of proceedings
    • against the accused was granted and the magistrate ordered the reopening of
    • inquiries to pursue the efforts to identify the perpetrator(s) of the crime.
12. On 11 August last the Eleventh Criminal Examining Magistrate of Ocaña was
    • entrusted with the task of conducting the necessary inquiries. It should be
    • noted that the temporary stay of proceedings is a penal procedure in which
    • charges are temporarily dropped because of the lack of sufficient evidence
    • against the accused, who is recalled before the court once the necessary
    • evidence of his responsibility for the crime has been gathered. As regards the
    • death of Mr. Santana, and that of Judge Castro Gil, there is nothing in the
    • respective proceedings to indicate that these deaths were related with the
    • trade union activity of the victims; the events are being completely and
    • properly investigated by the jurisdictional officials in accordance with the
    • law.
      • - Death of Pedro Contreras Salcedo. The Specialised Magistrate of Cúcuta
    • (North Santander) pointed out that the inquiry into the kidnapping with
    • extortion and subsequent death of Pedro Contreras Salcedo in events which
    • occurred on 5 January 1986 was opened by his office on 9 January 1986. Since
    • the pre-trial proceedings, which failed to identify the perpetrator(s) of the
    • crimes, have now been completed, the case was placed on 12 March last before
    • the Fifth Higher Court of Cúcuta, to which a request is being made for
    • additional information.
      • - Presumed death of Meyer Rivas. The Higher Magistrate of Pitalito (Huila)
    • stated in communication No. 354 that on 30 October 1985 Meyer Rivas Montero, a
    • teacher, was the victim of an attack by persons unknown and that one of the
    • shots fired hit him in the dorsal vertebra. On 2 November of the same year the
    • corresponding legal inquiry into the attempted assassination was opened by the
    • Tenth Criminal Court of Pitalito with a view to identifying the person(s)
    • responsible for the crime. It should be noted that the complaint presented
    • against the Government does not conform to the real facts, since the
    • complainants denounce the death of Mr. Rivas Montero, whereas in fact he was
    • the victim of an attempt which injured him but did not result in his death. It
    • is clear in this matter, as well as in others which are part of Case No. 1343
    • (concerning which the Government has demonstrated the discrepancy from the
    • true facts), that the intention of the complainant organisation is to cause
    • prejudice to the country by presenting lists of trade union leaders who have
    • been "assassinated" or who have "disappeared" and who are in fact alive and
    • present in their usual place of activity. The Tenth Criminal Examining
    • Magistrate made all the relevant inquiries with a view to establishing the
    • facts which resulted in the injury of Mr. Meyer Rivas, without it having been
    • possible to date to identify those responsible, efforts to do so will continue
    • until those responsible have been found.
      • - Death of Angel Amable Arroyave Restrepo and Juan Alberto Rodas Rúa. The
    • Third Higher Magistrate of Medellín stated in communication No. 320 that an
    • inquiry was opened on 31 August 1985 by the municipal court of Carepa
    • (Antioquia) and that proceedings are being pursued by his office although it
    • has not been possible to charge anyone with the crime.
      • - Death of Carmello Gelves Ortega, peasant trade union leader of Tibu
    • (North Santander). The inquiry has been entrusted to the 4th superior judge of
    • Cucuta, capital of that Department. The trial was opened by the Municipal
    • Criminal Judge of Tibu on 4 July 1986. Up to that date no-one had been
    • identified by the inquiry and it has not been possible to bring evidence
    • against anyone who might be responsible. It is necessary to point out that if
    • the death of Mr. Gelves had been caused by a military patrol as the
    • complainants affirm, the inquiry would be carried out under the Military
    • Criminal Code, which is the competent authority for judging acts committed by
    • the military. It is appropriate to point out that if the complainants were in
    • possession of evidence or of witnesses to show that a military patrol was the
    • author of the crime, there would be a legal obligation on them as citizens to
    • bring to the attention of the judge such information in order to facilitate
    • the inquiry and not to remain silent on the matter.
      • - Heriberto Ramirez Rengifo. Injured on the righthand side of the abdomen
    • by a firearm. The WFTU's allegation is vague and alarmist, and does not give
    • the correct name of the person concerned. Information has been requested from
    • the enquiring magistrate.
    • Death of Jairio Berrio. It is certain that his death is the subject of
    • criminal proceedings. The participation of a worker from a packaging factory
    • in a meeting of the transport sector must give rise to questions. Information
    • has been requested from the examining magistrate.
      • - The presumed illegal intervention by the police as regards the Workers'
    • Federation of North Santander - FENOSTRA - the Workers' Federation of Caldas -
    • FEDECALDAS - and the Workers of Boyaca Cement. The Director General of the
    • national police, Major General José Guillermo Medina Sanchez indicated that
    • the various Commandos of the Police Departments in the country are now working
    • closely in collaboration with the trade union organisations and the requests
    • made to the above-mentioned organisations should be interpreted in this way.
    • None of these organisations has been requested to supply information
    • concerning the political affiliation of its members or any other personal
    • details. The trade union organisations should not interpret as persecution
    • what in fact is a conciliatory approach on the part of the legally established
    • authorities. Generally speaking, what is sought is mutual collaboration as
    • well as protection against involvement of subversive groups who pretend to use
    • these organisations as instruments for their illegal acts.
13. 391. Since the content of the allegations and the information supplied by the
    • Government, as well as the information obtained by the Director-General's
    • representative during the mission are contained in the mission report (see
    • Appendix II), the Committee can proceed directly to formulate its conclusions
    • on the various matters before it.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 392. The Committee takes note of the report of the Director-General's
   • representative on the mission carried out in Bogotá between 14 and 18 July
2. 1986. The Committee notes with interest that the representative of the
   • Director-General received every assistance from the authorities in carrying
   • out the mission. The Committee also notes the written information communicated
   • by the Government after the departure of the mission.
3. 393. The Committee must draw attention firstly to the serious nature of the
   • allegations which have been submitted and which refer in particular to attacks
   • on the life and personal safety of a large number of trade union officials and
   • trade unionists. Various persons pointed out to the Director-General's
   • representative the complex nature of the present situation and the
   • inter-relationship of trade union, political and subversive matters, sometimes
   • related to drug-trafficking, which lead to acts of violence of different kinds
   • and even illegal acts by some members of the armed forces and the police.
   • According to the authorities, such behaviour has occurred only at the
   • individual level. The Committee expresses its concern and notes that according
   • to the mission report, so-called para-military groups and groups of
   • mercenaries are operating in the country and that most of the attacks on the
   • life and personal safety of trade unionists concern members of a specific
   • affiliation.
4. 394. The Committee also notes with concern that reference is made in various
   • parts of the mission report to the difficulty of determining those responsible
   • for crimes and the circumstances in which they were committed because
   • potential witnesses are afraid of the reprisals which they might suffer,
   • especially in some regions which are particularly affected by conflict. The
   • Committee believes that all appropriate measures should be taken to guarantee
   • that irrespective of trade union affiliation, trade union rights are exercised
   • in normal conditions with respect for basic human rights and in a climate free
   • of violence, pressure, fear and threats of any kind.
   • Allegations concerning the assassination, kidnapping or disappearance of
   • trade union officials and trade unionists
5. 395. The Committee observes that in almost all the alleged cases of
   • assassination, kidnapping or disappearance of trade union officials and trade
   • unionists, judicial inquiries have been opened in accordance with the
   • recommendations made by the Committee at its meetings of February and May
6. 1986. The Committee observes, however, that the Government points out that the
   • authorities of San Vicente de Chucurí (Santander) have no information on the
   • deaths of the agricultural trade unionists Leonor Marle, Omar Vergara, Solón
   • López and Serafín Herrera, and that it requires further details concerning the
   • death of the physician and trade union official Gabriel Anchique Gómez (in
   • particular the place of the death and other pertinent circumstances) and the
   • disappearance of José Jairo Gómez Cadena. The Committee requests the
   • complainant organisations to provide any information available on these
   • allegations in order to enable the Government to reply to them exactly.
7. 396. The Committee notes that the person responsible for the death of Nicolás
   • López Londoño was sentenced on 16 July 1986 and that as can be seen from the
   • court record, the matter had no connection with infringements of freedom of
   • association. The Committee also notes that according to the inquiries carried
   • out by the judicial authorities, there is evidence that the murder of Miguel
   • Puerta (FECODE trade union official) was due to personal problems related to
   • his private business and, in particular, problems of financial debts. The
   • Committee also notes that Víctor Manuel Aroca died in an armed conflict
   • between a patrol of the Lancers School and a group of the self-styled
   • Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) which operate regularly in the
   • general vicinity of Villarrica, Tres Esquinas y Galiliea. The Committee also
   • notes that the deaths of Medina Ochoa and Castro Gil were not due to their
   • membership in a trade union organisation but were caused by gangsters paid by
   • the drug-trafficking mafia in their campaign to hinder the administration of
   • justice. Finally, the Committee notes that the trade unionists Meyer Rivas and
   • Heriberto Ramirez Rengifo were not murdered but were victims of an attempted
   • homicide which left them injured and that the corresponding inquiries have
   • been opened. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of
   • developments in this respect.
8. 397. The Committee observes that the peasant leaders Andrés Luna and Yate
   • Aroca were arrested in the district of Nueva Esperanza in the municipality of
   • Coyaima, following an accusation by Miguel González Guarnizo who claimed that
   • he had been the victim of extortion and death threats by these two persons,
   • who were finally brought before the 36th Specialised Criminal Court of Ibagué,
   • which issued an order on 29 November 1985 releasing the two persons. The
   • Committee also takes note that the trade unionist Eric Ariza Roncancio was
   • found by the police in his house on 14 May 1986 with symptoms of having
   • consumed narcotics and with marks on his body which he claimed had been made
   • by strangers who had attacked him.
9. 398. The Committee also observes that the judicial authorities found Jorge
   • Luis Barrero guilty of the kidnapping of Miguel Angel Díaz and Faustino López.
   • The Committee emphasises, however, that these two trade union officials are
   • still missing and that the wife of the former told the mission that Jorge Luis
   • Barrero had not been captured.
10. 399. With regard to the other allegations concerning the assassination or
    • disappearance of trade union officials and trade unionists (see Annex l), the
    • Committee notes that judicial inquiries and trials are being carried out. The
    • Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of developments in the
    • different trials and expresses the hope that the whereabouts of the persons
    • who have disappeared will shortly be established. The Committee requests the
    • Government to provide information on the allegation concerning the
    • disappearance of 70 workers of the Malaria Eradication Service in April 1985.
    • Allegations concerning threats made against trade union officials
11. 400. The Committee notes that according to the Government six of the persons
    • who were allegedly threatened did not appear before the assistant prosecutor
    • of the armed forces to make the relevant denunciation although they had been
    • invited to do so. As regards the two other persons threatened, the Government
    • points out that one of them (threatened in July 1985) did not accept official
    • protection and the other could not say with any certainty who had made the
    • threats and that the last threat had been made in June 1985.
12. 401. Bearing in mind these circumstances, the Committee refers to its general
    • conclusions made before its examination of the various allegations.
    • Allegations concerning interference in trade union activities
13. 402. The Committee notes that the Government denies that on 30 April 1986 the
    • national police fired against railway workers in Cali and points out that the
    • intervention of the police on 6 May 1986 in the strike which had been declared
    • by the Sole Textile Undertaking of Manizales was a result of the fact that the
    • strikers lit torches and threatened to set fire to the plant installations.
14. 403. As regards the alleged burning of the headquarters of the Frente Amplio
    • del Magdalena Medio, the Committee takes note of the explanations from the
    • Government and observes in particular that the above-mentioned Front is a
    • political movement and not a trade union organisation. In these circumstances
    • the Committee considers that no further examination of this allegation is
    • required.
15. 404. The Committee notes that the Government denies that the police sought
    • information concerning the political affiliation and other personal data of
    • the members of the Federation of Workers of North Santander (FENOSTRA), the
    • Federation of Workers of Caldas (FEDECALDAS), and the Cement Trade Union of
    • Boyacá. Finally, the Committee observes that the Government states that it
    • will send information on the other allegations as soon as it is available: the
    • use of tear gas by the Bogotá police against a group of workers of the Croydon
    • undertaking who were on strike; the searching of the headquarters of the
    • Federation of Petroleum Workers (FEDEPETROL); the placing of explosives by
      • para-military groups in the headquarters of the Federation of Workers of Valle
    • del Cauca (FEDETAV); the attacks against the FEDETAV premises in Palmira and
    • Cali and the Cement Trade Union of Valle in Yumbo; and the attack against the
    • headquarters of the Trade Union of Workers of Santander (USITRAS) in
    • Bucaramanga. The Committee therefore awaits the observations of the Government
    • on these allegations.
    • Allegations concerning dismissals made following the national strike of 20
    • June 1985
16. 405. The complainants had alleged that following the national strike called
17. for 20 June 1985 three workers were dismissed from the Vianini Entrecanales
    • undertaking (Messrs. Rafael Mauriao Mendoza Aguilar, Pedro Antonio Rodríguez
    • Rojas and Pablo Emilio Leal Cruz), along with 12 workers of 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 Riaño and Juisto Calderón).
18. 406. The Committee notes that the authorities pointed out to the
    • Director-General's representative that the workers of the Colombian Tobacco
    • Company mentioned in the complaint are still working in the undertaking, with
    • the exception of one person who left the undertaking voluntarily after having
    • reached an agreement with the management. The Committee also observes that in
    • connection with the dismissal of three workers from the Vianini Entrecanales
    • undertaking, the Government has not given sufficiently specific information
    • and has simply pointed out in general that some of the departures which
    • occurred in this undertaking were not dismissals but the result of the
    • termination of fixed-term contracts and that it was almost certain that
    • workers concerned had started proceedings in the labour courts.
19. 407. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the three
    • workers of the Vianini Entrecanales undertaking mentioned by the complaint
    • were dismissed and if so, the reason for the dismissals and the results of any
    • judicial proceedings which they may have been able to initiate with a view to
    • their reinstatement.

Trade union officials or trade unionists whose assassination is the subject of

1. a judicial inquiry and concerning the developments of which the Committee
2. wishes to be informed
3. 1. Leonel Roldán
4. 2. Francisco Javier Correa Muñoz
5. 3. Dionisio Hernüan Calderón
6. 4. José Luis Ortega
7. 5. Oscar Salazar
8. 6. Hernán Yate
9. 7. Jaime Quintero Cruz
10. 8. Javier Sanabria Murcia
11. 9. Rubén Castaño
12. 10. Caarmelo Gelves Ortega
13. 11. Rogelio Sánchez
14. 12. Luis Jusús Leal Guerrero
15. 13. Victor Manuel Leal
16. 14. Eder Lascarro
17. 15. Celso Rojas
18. 16. Jesús Flores
19. 17. Angel Amable Arroyabe
20. 18. Luis Alberto Roa
21. 19. Meyer rivas
22. 20. Pedro Contreras
23. 21. Faerial Santana
24. 22. Jaime Bronstein
25. 23. José Diomedes Cedeño
26. 24. Héctor Perdomo Soto
27. 25. José Rutilio Quintero
28. Disappearance or kidnapping of trade union officials or trade unionists
29. concerning whom the Committee requests the Government to provide information
30. on developments in the inquiries being carried out
31. 1. Miguel Angel Díaz
32. 2. Faustino López
33. 3. Gustavo Alcalde Ospina
34. APPENDIX II
35. REPORT ON THE DIRECT CONTACTS MISSION TO COLOMBIA (14-18 July 1986) (Case
36. No. 1343)
37. The Committee on Freedom of Association of the ILO Governing Body has before
38. it complaints submitted by the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and the
39. Trade Union Confederation of Colombian Workers (CSTC) against the Government
40. of Colombia (Case No. 1343). The complainants had requested that an ILO
41. mission should go to Colombia and, at its May 1986 meeting, the Committee
42. considered that "in view of the seriousness of the allegations in this case
43. ... it would be of considerable use to have an ILO mission visit the country
44. in order to obtain all the information necessary for a thorough examination of
45. the case" (244th Report of the Committee, paragraph 383(d)).
46. In a communication dated 12 June 1986, the Minister of Labour and Social
47. Security of Colombia invited the ILO to "send a mission to visit the country
48. and enter into contact with the Government and the democratic employers' and
49. workers' organisations, so that the situation might be duly cleared up".
50. The Director-General of the ILO appointed me as his representative to carry
51. out this mission, which took place from 14 to 18 July 1986. I was accompanied
52. throughout the mission by Mr. Alberto Odero, of the Freedom of Association
53. Branch of the International Labour Standards Department, and by Mr. Luis
54. Zamudio, Regional Adviser for international labour standards.
55. During the mission I spoke to Jorge Carrillo Rojas, Minister of Labour and
56. Social Security; Luis Enrique Aldana Rozo, Vice-President of the Supreme Court
57. of Justice; Carlos Jiménez Gómez, Attorney-General of the Nation; General
58. Víctor Alberto Delgado Mallarino, Director-General of the National Police;
59. Pablo Rubén Vernaza García, Deputy-Minister of the Interior; Major General
60. Nelson Mejéa Henao, Prosecutor for the Armed Forces; Antonio Duque Alvarez,
61. National Director of Criminal Investigations; Germán Plazas, Head of the
62. Collective Labour Relations Division of the Ministry of Labour and Social
63. Security; and representatives of the Trade Union Confederation of Colombian
64. Workers (CSTC), the Union of Colombian Workers (UTC), the Confederation of
65. Colombian Workers (CTC) and the General Confederation of Labour (CGT);
66. representatives of the National Association of Manufacturers (ANDI) and the
67. National Federation of Tradesmen (FENALCO); Alfredo Vásquez Carrizosa,
68. Chairman of the Standing Committee for the Defence of Human Rights; and other
69. officials and trade union leaders. The list of persons with whom I spoke
70. appears at the end of this report.
71. In communications dated 5 August and 17 September 1986, the Government
72. corroborated various information provided to the mission during its visit and
73. sent other information promised on this occasion.
74. I should like to state that we were offered every facility by the authorities
75. to carry out the mission, for which I am most grateful, especially by Vivian
76. Cock Ordoñez, Head of the International Relations Department of the Ministry
77. of Labour and Social Security, who acted as a liaison officer. I also wish to
78. thank all those with whom we spoke for the information they were able to give
79. us. I am enclosing the various documents received during the mission with the
80. present report, to be used for the relevant purposes.
81. Background to the case
82. The Committee on Freedom of Association examined this case for the first time
83. at its February 1986 meeting and submitted an interim report to the Governing
84. Body (243rd Report, paras. 570 to 587), approved by the Governing Body at its
85. 232nd Session (February-March 1986).
86. Having received new allegations from the complainants and also various
87. observations from the Government, the Committee examined the case once again
88. at its May 1986 meeting and submitted another interim report (244th Report,
89. paras. 357 to 383) to the Governing Body. The Governing Body approved this
90. report at its 233rd Session (May-June 1986).
91. Paragraph 383 of this report, which contains the Committee's recommendations
92. to the Governing Body, gives a summary of the various allegations under
93. examination. The Committee recommended the following conclusions on the basis
94. of the allegations:
95. a) The Committee notes with concern that, subsequent to its previous
96. examination of the case, the complainant organisations have submitted
97. extremely serious allegations implicating in particular the military,
98. paramilitary and police forces and concerning attacks on the life, safety and
99. physical well-being of a great many trade union leaders and trade unionists,
100. concerning violent attacks upon trade union premises and meetings and on
101. workers exercising the right to strike, the searching of trade union
102. headquarters and various forms of interference in trade union activities. The
103. Committee, noting that the Government has provided information only concerning
104. some of the allegations (in particular those relating to certain deaths and
105. disappearances) appeals to the Government to send its observations on the
106. other allegations as a matter of urgency.
107. b) The Committee deeply regrets the alleged deaths and disappearances of
108. trade union leaders and requests the Government to inform it of developments
109. in the judicial investigations and of the results of the trials under way into
110. certain deaths and disappearances to which specific reference has been made.
111. c) With respect to the alleged dismissals in the Vianini Entrecanales
112. undertaking and the Colombian Tobacco Company, the Committee awaits receipt of
113. the additional observations referred to by the Government before entering into
114. an examination of this allegation.
115. Preliminary considerations
116. Before analysing the specific information received on the various aspects of
117. the complaint, I thought it advisable to give a summary of the various
118. comments made to the mission by those we interviewed, which centre on more
119. serious allegations and give an idea on the background to the complaints.
120. These comments, containing important information on the situation, were made
121. by those we interviewed and I have done my utmost to transcribe them as
122. faithfully as possible.
123. According to the Director-General of the National Police, the complaints, in
124. their submissions, have included certain questions which, in reality, are
125. quite separate and which have no relation with labour or trade union problems.
126. On the same lines, the Minister of Labour stressed that nobody was persecuted
127. in Colombia for his trade union activities. Guerrilla groups were infiltrating
128. the trade union movement to win over followers and create labour disturbances.
129. There are trade unionists who go underground, join with the guerrillas and
130. then have their disappearance announced to create problems for the Government.
131. There are also missing persons who, in fact, have been killed in internal
132. struggles between the guerrilla groups or clashes with the Army. It may be
133. added that, according to various statements made, the authorities had been
134. able to confirm many cases of people who had reappeared after having been
135. declared missing.
136. As regards the CSTC, the complainant organisation, several of the persons
137. interviewed stated that it was a highly politicised organisation and it was
138. well known that it constituted the trade union arm of the Communist Party, in
139. the same way that the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - the
140. largest guerrilla organisation, which at present is keeping the truce it has
141. made with the Government, apart from some of its dissident groups) is its
142. military arm. In agreement with the Prosecutor of the Armed Forces, the CSTC
143. and its affiliated organisations do not co-operate with the authorities to
144. help investigations into complaints lodged as regards murders, disappearances
145. or kidnappings and threats made to trade unionists.
146. In any case, according to the Director-General of the National Police and
147. statements made by the National Director of Criminal Investigations, whenever
148. such occurrences are reported - and there is evidence to this effect - the
149. appropriate investigations are made, leading to a trial before the
150. magistrates. The military courts are competent when the charges are made
151. against members of the Armed Forces or the Police and always when they have
152. been committed when these persons have been on duty. They are also competent
153. in cases of the illegal carrying of arms by civilians, which was also pointed
154. out by the Prosecutor of the Armed Forces.
155. CSTC officials pointed out that, in spite of the Committee on Freedom of
156. Association's reports, the murders, disappearances and threats were
157. continuing. In particular, no one has yet been arrested in connection with
158. these occurrences. Complaints lodged with the authorities come to nothing and,
159. what is more, experience has shown that there is a danger that those reporting
160. the facts might be persecuted or even murdered. Furthermore, possible
161. witnesses, even if they are relations, are afraid to testify and fail to do
162. so. Many of the facts reported were the work of paramilitary groups. The
163. officials interviewed added that there was bound to be an increase in the
164. repression under the next Government. (The change of government occurred on 7
165. August 1986.)
166. The difficulty of obtaining information from relations and witnesses was
167. pointed out by several of the persons with whom we spoke, including the
168. National Director of Criminal Investigations. This was one of the major
169. reasons which hindered or prevented the judiciary from being able to clarify
170. the facts. The Government is attempting to make progress in this respect and
171. the President of the Republic has set up a special committee, made up of the
172. Attorney-General of the Nation, the Minister of the Interior, the National
173. Director of Criminal Investigations and members of the Peace Committee, which
174. meets regularly to examine notices of missing persons.
175. The Chairman of the Standing Committee for the Defence of Human Rights
176. referred to the frequency of cases of missing persons reported to this
177. organisation, which amount to approximately 550 cases, in which reference is
178. made to members of the Armed Forces and the Police.
179. A report drawn up by the Attorney-General of the Nation mentions about 340
180. cases of missing persons at the end of 1985. This discrepancy in figures could
181. be explained by the fact that as regards the latter cases, there is evidence
182. and investigations being conducted. The President of the above-mentioned
183. Standing Committee added that, in practice, all cases in which members of the
184. Armed Forces and Police are involved in any way are brought to the attention
185. of the military courts who interpret the concept of legitimate defence with
186. considerable latitude and show an "ésprit de corps" with all the staff.
187. The Attorney-General of the Nation, in a report dated 10 March 1986,
188. corroborated the statements on the difficulty of obtaining information: "in
189. view of the fact that on understandable grounds of fear, nobody wants to help
190. the investigators and that consequently, investigations in Colombia are
191. becoming increasingly difficult every day ...". The Committee of Human Rights,
192. which operates within the Attorney-General's Office, makes the first inquiries
193. when it receives complaints. This Committee is made up of the Deputy
194. Attorney-General of the Nation, the Persecutor for the Judicial Police, the
195. Attorney-General's Assistant to the National Police, two representatives of
196. the Standing Committee for the Defence of Human Rights and two representatives
197. of the Association of Detained and Missing Persons' Relations (ASFADDES).
198. As regards the paramilitary groups, there are various opinions on the
199. subject. According to the Director-General of the Police, the group known by
200. the initials MAS ("muerte a secuestradores" - death to the kidnappers -
201. mentioned in the CSTC complaint), had allegedly been set up in the past for a
202. specific and individual case of kidnapping, but its existence had never been
203. proven. In the opinion of other persons we interviewed, the paramilitary
204. groups were made up of people reacting against the feeling of insecurity, on
205. grounds of self-defence. At times, they receive the support of individuals in
206. the Armed Forces and the Police. According to the Attorney-General, MAS
207. started as a self-defence movement due to a lack of confidence in legal
208. proceedings.
209. Following investigations into a case carried out by the Attorney-General's
210. Office, which ascertained that soldiers were implicated, this movement lost
211. all its institutional support. The case was examined by the military police
212. who acquitted all the soldiers involved. Since that time, the original MAS
213. failed to exist; however, other groups continued to apply the same techniques,
214. occasionally using the same initials and counting, depending upon the cases,
215. upon the support of individual members of the Army and Police. In its report
216. of 10 May 1986, the Attorney-General expressed his concern about the
217. authorities' frequent and serious "illegal excesses", declaring that he did
218. not doubt the honesty of those in high command of the Army and of the Police
219. and that he attributed these offences "purely to individuals".
220. The mission was able to see a recent communication from the MAS, which
221. contained threats. Actions attributed to paramilitary groups include, in
222. particular, the murder of common criminals, homosexuals, peasants, politicians
223. and trade unionists politically involved with left-wing parties.
224. However, other persons are also affected by murders, disappearances and
225. threats. In a communication dated 31 May 1986, the Attorney-General urges the
226. FARC to free various persons listed by name unharmed and estimates the total
227. number of disappearances accredited to various groups of this organisation
228. during the past two years at more than 50. In this communication, it is stated
229. that "although it is customary to proclaim that the respect of human rights is
230. mainly a duty for the State, it is also incumbent upon all human beings, even
231. more so when organised subversive groups are involved. The way to peace
232. requires sincerity, loyalty and consistency; there can be no exceptions,
233. excuses or deviations from the cause". It is general public knowledge that the
234. Attorney-General has been threatened with his life. Representatives of the
235. Attorney-General's Office "suspect that paramilitary groups are involved, but
236. they do not dismiss the theory that other fronts such as the guerrillas might
237. be behind the threats" (El Tiempo, 17 July 1986).
238. Several employers' representatives pointed out that the events mentioned
239. affect all sectors of society, including employers. Amongst those who might
240. have committed these actions were the subversive groups. According to these
241. representatives, the MAS has been generally rejected. But the paramilitary
242. groups had mainly been set up because of the feeling of insecurity on the part
243. of the general population, who did not feel protected by the authorities. In
244. the vast majority of cases, the occurrences mentioned had nothing whatsoever
245. to do with trade union activities in the strict sense of the term. There are
246. many cases of missing persons who join subversive groups or who have
247. reappeared.
248. The mission also had talks with CGT, UTC and CTC officials, some of which had
249. been threatened by one of the guerrilla organisations. Apart from this,
250. although the CGT and CTC did not have problems similar to those contained in
251. the CSTC complaint, it was pointed out, at the meeting with UTC officials,
252. that this organisation had also lost several trade unionists who had been
253. murdered or disappeared. In this respect, reference was made to the situation
254. in the Urabá area, particularly fraught with tension (as is also the Cauca
255. Valley), where a total of 40,000 workers are employed on banana plantations.
256. According to explanations given, there is only one labour inspector and one
257. labour magistrate in this area. There are different armed groups (for example,
258. guerrillas, individuals in the pay of plantation owners, bandits, etc.) and
259. people are murdered, including trade unionists, whatever their political
260. persuasion. Investigations in this area come to nothing because nobody dares
261. to come forward for fear of reprisals.
262. Various persons pointed out the complexity of the prevailing situation, as
263. well as the overlapping of trade union, political and subversive issues,
264. sometimes related to the drug trade, which lead to acts of violence committed
265. in various sectors, including illegal actions by some of the members of the
266. Armed Forces and Police. What is difficult in all these cases is to uncover
267. sufficient evidence to make a clear indictment before the courts and be able
268. to punish the guilty parties.
269. Allegations on the events of 20 June 1985
270. The complainants had alleged that on the grounds of the work stoppage
271. organised by six trade union organisations on 20 June 1985, the legal
272. personality of these organisations had been suspended by administrative
273. authority, hundreds of workers had been detained and many workers from the
274. Vianini Entrecanales undertaking and from the Colombian Tobacco Company had
275. been dismissed. The Committee on Freedom of Association had drawn up
276. conclusions on these matters, except on the allegation concerning the
277. dismissal of workers, as it awaited the additional information referred to by
278. the Government.
279. Before turning to these observations, it is relevant to refer to the
280. information provided by the Government concerning the suspension of the legal
281. personality of the organisations concerned. In its communication of 5 August
282. 1986, it pointed out that in normal circumstances, the administrative
283. suspension of the legal personality of organisations is prohibited by law. The
284. suspension of the legal personality of the organisations in question during
285. the work stoppage of 20 June 1985 was due to the fact that the country was in
286. a state of emergency. The work stoppage was clearly aimed at disrupting
287. national peace and it was on these grounds that the Executive, exercising its
288. constitutional powers, authorised the Ministry of Labour to suspend the legal
289. personality of the trade union organisations taking part in this work
290. stoppage. The legal personality was restored before the expiry data of the
291. suspension order. In actual fact, this never came into effect because the
292. respective suspension Resolutions could not enter into force before a ruling
293. was made in the appeals filed against them; and this was not made. The
294. Government explains that Colombian administrative procedures stipulate that an
295. administrative act, as is the case of a resolution, comes into effect five
296. days after it has been published, provided no appeals have been filed against
297. it; if any appeals have been filed, it comes into effect five days after a
298. ruling has been made. Whilst the act is neither executory nor valid, it has no
299. effect whatsoever.
300. As far as the dismissals are concerned, the Government had already pointed
301. out in a communication dated 30 April 1986 that, in accordance with section
302. 450 of the Labour Code, a collective labour dispute is forbidden: a) in the
303. public services; b) when it is for any purpose other than an occupational or
304. economic purpose; c) when it has not previously observed the legally
305. prescribed procedures for direct settlement and conciliation; d) when it has
306. been declared as infringing the provisions laid down in section 444 (voting by
307. the absolute majority of workers making up the general assembly); e) when it
308. is not restricted to the peaceful stoppage of work; f) when it is designed to
309. make the authorities carry out some act for which they alone have
310. jurisdiction. As far as the Vianini Entrecanales undertaking is concerned, it
311. was proven that the collective stoppage of work was for a purpose other than
312. an occupational or economic purpose. On these grounds, in accordance with
313. section 450, the work stoppage had to be declared illegal and, in these
314. circumstances, given the illegal nature of the strike, the employer was free
315. to dismiss anyone taking part in it. In the case of workers protected by trade
316. union rights, dismissal is not a matter for the courts.
317. During the mission, the Head of the Collective Labour Relations Department of
318. the Ministry of Labour and Social Security provided various additional
319. information. He felt that it was almost certain that the dismissed workers had
320. brought actions before the labour courts for the measures taken against them.
321. Dismissals must be authorised by the Ministry of Labour, but, in this case, it
322. was necessary to prove that the respective workers were continuing with the
323. strike after it had been declared illegal. The Minister could also have
324. authorised dismissal of those instigating the strike but, in practice, it is
325. very difficult to prove this fact. According to the Government's communication
326. of 5 August 1986, practically no requests for authorisation are received or
327. granted because there is not enough evidence. In the specific case of the
328. Vianini Entrecanales undertaking, some of the cases in which the employment
329. relationship was terminated were not dismissals but cases in which fixed-term
330. contracts had normally come to an end. In the final analysis, it is the
331. magistrate who must rule in this respect.
332. As regards the case of the workers in the Colombian Tobacco Company, the Head
333. of the Collective Labour Relations Department reported that Jairo Lesmes
334. (mentioned in the complaint) reached an agreement with the undertaking last
335. year and retired of his own free will. All the other workers mentioned are
336. still employed in the undertaking and one of these, Reynaldo Medina, even took
337. part in negotiations on the recently signed collective agreement.
338. Allegations on interference in trade union activities
339. The Committee on Freedom of Association had noted that the complainants
340. submitted allegations concerning violent attacks upon trade union premises and
341. meetings and on workers exercising the right to strike, the searching of trade
342. union headquarters and various forms of interference in trade union
343. activities.
344. The mission was able to obtain information on some of these allegations.
345. a) Alleged shots fired on railway workers in Cali by the police
346. This allegation was submitted by the WFTU in a communication dated 13 May
347. 1986.
348. According to information obtained from the Director-General of the National
349. Police and confirmed in a communication from the Government dated 5 August
350. 1986, workers in the National Railways carried out a 72-hour strike, which
351. suspended the transport of freight; as the trade union official Miguel Antonio
352. Pintor pointed out, this strike was to protest against the Ministry of
353. Finance's delay in authorising the handing over of a financial allotment in
354. the budget. The lines of Bogotá, Sogamoso, Chiquinquirá, La Dorada, Santa
355. Marta, Girardot, Villeta, Ibagué, Neiva, Buenaventura, Cali, Cartagena,
356. Armenia and Medellín, amongst others, were paralysed which meant that the
357. strike affected almost all the country as the cities mentioned cover nine
358. departments.
359. General Delgado Mallarino stated that the railwaymen of Cali prevented the
360. departure of trains which, in accordance with the Labour Code, are classified
361. a public service; therefore, under the National Constitution, railways are
362. forbidden to strike.
363. The National Police, also legally bound to maintain public law and order, had
364. to intervene and the policemen were attacked with stones thrown by the
365. workers. The Police brought the disturbance under control, without any
366. casualties, but there were no shots fired, as the complainants allege.
367. According to the Government, although strike action is forbidden in the public
368. services, the collective work stoppage would not have developed the way it
369. did, had the workers not gone too far and attacked members of the Police. The
370. Government guarantees the free exercise of trade union rights, provided that
371. these are conducted in accordance with normal procedures and the law.
372. b) Alleged police attacks on strikers in the Unica Textile Company in
373. Manizales
374. This allegation was contained in the same communication from the WFTU dated
375. 13 May 1986.
376. The information on this allegation comes from the Police and is also
377. contained in the communication from the Government dated 5 August 1986.
378. According to these sources, the factory workers voted the strike on 27 March
379. 1986 to obtain satisfaction for the list of claims they had submitted.
380. According to the Government, the National Police had been obliged to intervene
381. as a measure of precaution, since tracts and pamphlets supporting the strike
382. had been distributed and these referred to a subversive movement, the People's
383. Liberation Army (EPL). A communication from the Police in the Department of
384. Caldas, dated 23 May 1986, states that in analysing these tracts and
385. pamphlets, it was proven that they were not genuine and were presumably
386. distributed by the staff within the undertaking to cause confusion amongst the
387. management.
388. According to the information received, the strike, in which 1,225 workers
389. participated, started on 9 April and continued normally until 6 May, at which
390. time the strikers lit torches and threatened the factory installations; this
391. action caused friction between workers and the Police and resulted in the
392. arrest of 24 workers. The Government states that the police presence was
393. justified by the need to prevent a subversive attack on the factory and they
394. controlled anyone entering the premises to avoid arms or explosives from being
395. brought in.
396. Finally, the workers in custody were released and the Mayor of Manizales
397. invited the president of the trade union and the strike committee to hold a
398. full discussion. This took place on 14 May of the current year, during which
399. the undertaking and trade union reached a plant agreement and signed a new
400. collective labour agreement which is valid for two years.
401. c) Fire at the headquarters of the Combined Front of the region of Magdalena
402. Medio
403. This allegation was also contained in the above-mentioned communication from
404. the WFTU on 13 May 1986.
405. According to information from the Police, conveyed by the Government in its
406. communication of 5 August 1986, on 7 May 1986 unknown persons tried to set
407. fire to the headquarters of the political movement, the Combined Front of
408. Magdalena Medio, in the town of Bucaramanga. The fire was brought under
409. control by firemen and members of the National Police. According to the
410. Government, it is evident that this event had nothing to do with trade union
411. reasons or with the political and military authorities. Situations of this
412. kind can be caused by common criminals or members of subversive groups,
413. without the public authorities being held responsible in any way.
414. d) Further allegations pending
415. The complainants had submitted various other allegations, upon which the
416. mission was unable to obtain information. These allegations refer to requests
417. for information made to the Federation of Workers of North Santander
418. (FENOSTRA), the Federation of Workers of Caldas (FEDECALDAS), and the Trade
419. Union of Workers in the Boyacá Cement Company by the police in various towns;
420. in all these cases, the police mainly wanted information on the personal
421. details of members of the respective executive committees. The allegations
422. pending also concern the firing of tear gas by the Bogotá police at a group of
423. workers of the Croydon Company who were on strike; the searching of the
424. headquarters of the Federation of Petroleum Workers (FEDEPETROL); the placing
425. of explosives in the headquarters of the Federation of Workers of Valle del
426. Cauca (FEDETAV); attacks on FEDETAV premises in Palmira and Cali; on the
427. Cementos del Valle Trade Union at Yumbo and on the headquarters of the Trade
428. Union of Workers of Santander (USITRAS) at Bucaramanga.
429. In its communication of 17 September 1986, the Government states that it will
430. send the relevant information once it has received it from the respective
431. authorities. At the same time, it stresses that actions which are both
432. arbitrary and opposed to the legal system are totally inconsistent with
433. tradition and with civil and military institutions in Colombia.
434. Allegations on the murder, kidnapping or disappearance of trade union leaders
435. and trade unionists
436. The Government's observations concerning these allegations, described here
437. below, were received during the mission or contained in various communications
438. from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, dated 9 and 14 July, 5 August
439. and 17 September 1986. This information was conveyed to the Ministry by
440. various national authorities, as given in the respective communications.
441. The Government considered it necessary to give some details on Colombian
442. criminal proceedings.
443. When a violent death occurs, the Police and the Examining Magistrates - who
444. take the necessary steps to remove the corpse - and the forensic experts who
445. carry out the autopsy are the first to deal with the case. If the police are
446. the first to be informed of the event, they are obliged to send an immediate
447. report to the Criminal Examining Magistrate so that he can carry out the
448. necessary investigations. In criminal cases, the Police never carries out
449. preliminary investigations or imposes sanctions. The Examining Magistrate must
450. take all the necessary steps to elucidate the facts and is obliged, once the
451. time is up, to transfer the evidence he has collected to a higher-ranking
452. magistrate, who is competent to proceed with the case. When this Magistrate
453. considers that the evidence collected is not enough to clarify the events he
454. may commission, i.e. transfer, the case to the Criminal Examining Magistrate
455. so that he makes additional inquiries.
456. The Government adds that the Magistrate's impartiality and the smooth running
457. of the proceedings, in accordance with the law, are guaranteed by the
458. Magistrate's high level of skill and by the fact that an official or public
459. prosecutor of the Office of the Government Attorney (Attorney-General of the
460. Nation) is obliged to be present at all times during the trial; the latter
461. acts as a guardian of the law and representative of the community. The Office
462. of the Government Attorney may appoint special investigators when it is
463. considered appropriate.
464. a) Allegations concerning the murder of trade union leaders or trade
465. unionists
466. Nicolás López Londoño. President of the Union of Workers of the New Stetic
467. Factory - CSTC, murdered in Medellín on 26 May 1985.
468. The Sixth Higher Magistrate of Medellín (Antioquia) stated that Gustavo López
469. Vargas was tried for the crime and that, after the normal proceedings, was
470. sentenced on 19 July 1986. According to this legal official, the crime in
471. question had no relationship whatsoever with infringements of freedom of
472. association because the fact that López Londoño carried out trade union
473. activities in the New Stetic Factory did not even come up during the trial.
474. Leonel Roldán. Trade union leader of the Rosellón-Coltejer Textile Factory,
475. murdered on 24 May 1985 in Medellín.
476. The Fourteenth Higher Magistrate of Medellín (Antioquia) stated that the
477. investigation into the murder of Jorge Leonel Roldán Posada was under way but
478. that no one had been charged. The crime occurred on 24 May 1985 in Itagüé and
479. not in Medellín, as stated by the complainants, and the investigation was
480. started by the 26th Criminal Examining Magristrate's Court of Itagüé. The ILO
481. will be kept informed of the development of this trial.
482. Francisco Javier Correa Muñoz. Trade union leader of the Rosellón-Coltejer
483. Textile Factory, murdered at Envigado - Antioquia on 7 June 1985.
484. The Ministry of Labour was informed that the investigations were the
485. responsibility of the Sixth Higher Magistrate of Medellín and the case had
486. been referred to this official. When the necessary details have been received,
487. they will be sent to the ILO.
488. Leonor Marle, Omar Vergara, Solón López and Serafín Herrera. Agricultural
489. union activists at San Vicente de Chucuré, Santander, murdered during the
490. night of 27 July 1985.
491. The competent authorities stated that the courts were not making
492. investigations into this case because they had not been informed of the
493. alleged events. The Government points out that it is vital to repeat that no
494. violent death failed to be investigated in the country because it is always
495. reported by the military authorities or the police or officials conducting
496. criminal investigations, all of whom are obliged to hand over the evidence to
497. the Criminal Examining Magistrates so that they may proceed with the
498. respective trial. Consequently, since the complainant organisation does not
499. specify the place, date or time the events occurred, it is impossible for the
500. Government to provide any details whatsoever since the competent authorities
501. themselves ignore completely that Leonor Marle, Omar Vergara, Solón López and
502. Serafín Herrera are dead.
503. Dionisio Hernán Calderón. President of the Trade Union of Workers of the
504. municipality of Yumbo and National Management Committee of FENALTRASE,
505. murdered on 28 September 1985 in his own home in Yumbo, Valle.
506. The Fourth Higher Magistrate of Cali is going ahead with this case and
507. pointed out that he had taken a statement from Juan Moreno García; however,
508. the examining official had not issued an arrest warrant on this person because
509. of lack of evidence. Heberth Peñuela was ordered to make an unsworn statement
510. but, up to now, it has been impossible to make him appear before the
511. magistrate. It should be stressed that, as with other cases, investigations
512. come up against the problem that persons concerned fail to co-operate by
513. giving evidence. As the Fourth Higher Magistrate of Cali stressed: "it is
514. vital to realise that the charges in this case are only hearsay and have been
515. made by those who were not eyewitnesses. Attempts have been made to obtain a
516. statement from Dalila Cárdenas, wife of the late trade union leader, who was
517. present at the time of the events but, according to those who lodged the
518. complaint, she is in the city of Bogotá under the protection of FENALTRASE,
519. without an address where she may be summoned to appear". All this implies that
520. the only evidence against those allegedly responsible for the actions come
521. from witnesses who were not present when these occurred but who have only
522. heard that these persons were the authors of the crime. It it relevant to
523. recall that as the magistrate pointed out, FENALTRASE, an organisation
524. affiliated to the complainant CSTC, is protecting the wife of Dionisio Hernán
525. Calderón and that she is a vital witness because she was presumably present
526. when the events occurred; however, neither one or the other are co-operating
527. with the legal authorities.
528. José Luis Ortega and Oscar Salazar. Members of the Executive Committee of the
529. Union of Agricultural Workers, SINTAGRO, murdered at Urabá, Antioquia, on 3
530. October 1985 while discussing the list of claims with banana plantation
531. employers.
532. The case concerning Jorge Luis Ortega Cogollo is before the 16th Higher Court
533. of Medellín. The magistrate stated that although Ortega belonged to SINTAGRO,
534. he was not a member of the Executive Committee. Investigations have shown that
535. unknown persons murdered Ortega during the night of 3 July 1985 at the "El
536. Aguacate" work camp, on the "La Petra" farm (municipality of Turbo,
537. Antioquia). The authors of the crime escaped, without it being possible to
538. establish their identity. As stressed by the magistrate, the investigation is
539. proving difficult because those who have made statements up to now declared
540. they did not know the criminals and do not have any evidence which might give
541. a definite lead.
542. The case concerning Oscar Salazar Ospina is before the same court. Salazar
543. was neither a member of the SINTAGRO Executive Committee, nor did he belong to
544. the trade union. He was murdered during the night of 3 July 1985 on the "El
545. Semillero" farm, in the same town as the previous case, by unknown persons who
546. disappeared and took flight, without anyone being able to establish their
547. identity.
548. The magistrate pointed out that in both cases, investigations were hampered
549. by the fact that events took place in temporary work camps, where staff were
550. constantly changing.
551. Miguel Perta. Teacher and trade union militant in FECODE, murdered on 27
552. August 1985 in Apartadó, Antioquia.
553. The 16th Higher Magistrate of Medellín stated that no person has been charged
554. in the case on the murder of Miguel Angel Puerta and that the events occurred
555. on the "Canabiam Media" farm, Apartadó. The magistrate also pointed out that,
556. according to information included in the file, it must be ruled out that
557. Puerta's death was due to his links with paramilitary or guerrilla groups or
558. to his trade union activities; it would seem to be more probable that it was
559. due to personal problems connected with his own business since, as the group
560. of special investigators appointed by the Deputy Attorney-General of the
561. nation in September 1985 already had occasion to note, the deceased has
562. constant financial debt problems.
563. Hernán Yate. Member of the Executive Committee of the National Agricultural
564. Trade Union Federation, FENSA, murdered in Granada - Meta, on 27 November
565. 1985.
566. Investigations by the 3rd Criminal Examining Magistrate's Court of Granada
567. were continuing, but they had not been successful in identifying those
568. responsible for murdering Hernán Yate Bonilla.
569. Jaime Quintero Cruz. President of the Medical Association of Valle, ASOMEVA,
570. murdered on 7 December 1985 inside his consulting room in the city of Cali.
571. The case is before the Second Magistrate of Cali, who stated that as it is in
572. the investigatory stage, and therefore confidential, he is unable to provide
573. additional information on the case.
574. Javier Sanabria Murcia. Teacher and trade union militant, murdered at
575. Florencia, Caquetá, on 10 December 1985.
576. The Third Higher Magistrate of Florencia is going ahead with the proceedings
577. and the Ministry of Labour has requested information from this official.
578. Rubén Castaño. Member of the National Executive Committee of CSTC and
579. President of the Federation of Workers of Caldas, FEDECALDAS-CSTC, murdered on
580. 28 November 1985 opposite the FEDECALDAS headquarters in the city of
581. Manizales.
582. The 15th Criminal Examining Magistrate of Manizales informed us that the case
583. was still in the investigatory stage, that evidence was being gathered and
584. until now, it had now been possible to identify the person or persons
585. responsible for the crime. The co-ordinator of the Judicial Police of the
586. Manizales district, who had attended the First Higher Court of that city,
587. where the case is being heard, confirmed that no positive results had been
588. achieved "because nobody wants to testify".
589. Victor Manuel Aroca. Leader of the Trade Union of Agricultural Workers of the
590. Department of Tolima and Patriotic Union Candidate for the Council of
591. Villarrica Tolima, murdered there by the army on 26 February 1986.
592. The person concerned was killed, together with José Darío Laverde, in an
593. armed conflict between a patrol from the Lancers' Academy and a group of
594. persons calling themselves the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),
595. which operate regularly in the area covering Villarrica, Tres Esquinas and
596. Galilea.
597. Carmelo Gelves Ortega. Agricultural leader of Tibuy, Norte de Santander,
598. executed by military patrol on 4 July 1985.
599. Investigations are being carried out by the Fourth Higher Court of Cúcuta and
600. the Ministry of Labour has requested it to supply the corresponding
601. information.
602. Rogelio Sánchez. Regional agricultural leader at Urabá, Antioquia murdered at
603. Chirigodo on 29 November 1985.
604. Information is being awaited from the Section of Criminal Investigations of
605. Medellín as to which magistrate is conducting investigations on this case.
606. Luis Jesús Leal Guerrero and Victor Manuel Leal. Agricultural trade union
607. leaders from Tibuy, Norte de Santander. Detained by the army on 30 November
608. 1985 and found murdered some days later.
609. Investigations are being carried out by the Army's 5th Brigade. The Minister
610. of Labour has requested it for detailed information and will communicate this
611. to the ILO.
612. Eder Lascarro, Celso Rojas and Jesús Flores. Workers of the Texas Petroleum
613. Company and trade union militants in the oil region. Decapitated in the city
614. of Barrancabermeja by a terrorist paramilitary group known as MAS.
615. Investigations are being carried out by the Ninth Higher Court of
616. Barrancabermeja and the Ministry of Labour has asked it for specific details
617. on the course of the case so that it might communicate them to the ILO.
618. Angel Amable Arroyabe and Luis Alberto Roa. Teachers and trade union leaders
619. of the Association of Teachers of Antioquia. They were killed by a
620. paramilitary group at Carepa, Urabá, Antioquia.
621. Investigations on this case are being carried out by the Third Higher Court
622. of Medellín.
623. Meyer Rivas. Teacher and trade union militant of FECODE. Murdered on 30
624. October 1985 at Pitalito, Huila.
625. Investigations are under way at the Higher Court of Pitalito.
626. Alvaro Medina Ochoa. Member of the National Association of Legal Employees
627. (ASONAL JUDICIAL). Lawyer and magistrate of the Higher Court of Medellín.
628. Murdered in Medellín. Although, in accordance with criminal law,
629. investigations into the death of Medina Ochoa are being carried out, the
630. Prosecutor's Department for the Armed Forces is awaiting information from the
631. section of criminal investigations in Medellín.
632. Julio Manuel Castro Gil. Member of the ASONAL JUDICIAL. Lawyer and
633. Magistrateof the First Higher Court of Bogotá, who was in charge of
634. investigating the murder of the Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla.
635. Murdered in Bogotá on 24 July 1985.
636. Criminal investigations are being carried out by the 25th Higher Court of
637. Bogotá and the Ministry of Labour will send the ILO more information as soon
638. as it receives this from the court.
639. As regards Medina Ochoa and Castro Gil, the Government stresses that their
640. murders had nothing to do with the fact that they were members of a trade
641. union organisation but that they were the work of thugs paid by the mafias in
642. the drugs trade, committed to thwarting the administration of justice and the
643. application of the extradition treaty with the United States.
644. Pedro Contreras. Militant of the Petroleum Workers' Union - USO - Tribu
645. Section - murdered by sub-machine gun fire by a paramilitary organisation.
646. The Ministry of Labour is requesting information from the only Specialist
647. Magistrate of Cúcuta, who is carrying out the investigation on the death of
648. Pedro Contreras Salcedo.
649. Faeriel Santana. President of the Union of Workers of the Ministry of
650. Education, Ocaña Section, Norte de Santander, murdered in his own home and in
651. the presence of his wife and children by three paid assassins who boasted that
652. they were trade union exterminators.
653. The Ministry of Labour will communicate to the ILO the information provided
654. by the Second Higher Magistrate of Ocaño (Norte de Santander), who is carrying
655. out investigations into this case.
656. Gabriel Anchique Gómez. Doctor and occupational leader. Murdered in his own
657. consulting room on 14 January 1986.
658. According to the Government, the ILO should request the complainant
659. organisation to provide detailed information on the place of the crime and
660. further circumstances in connection with the death of this person because "it
661. is impossible in a country of 20 million inhabitants to make inquiries about
662. somebody who was murdered in their own consulting room", when the city in
663. which this murder took place is unknown.
664. Jaime Bronstein. Departmental leader of the National Association of Rural
665. Co-operatives. Murdered on 11 January 1986 at Timbio.
666. Criminal investigations are being carried out by the First Higher Magistrate
667. of Popayán, with which the Minister of Labour has made contact.
668. José Diomedes Cedeño. President of the Teachers' Association of Tello,
669. councillor of the Patriotic Union in the same town and Communist Party
670. official in the department of Huila.
671. Hector Perdomo Soto. Secretary of the Teachers' Association in Tello and
672. Communist Party militant. Both persons were murdered on a pathway in the
673. district of Tello, department of Huila, when they were on a motor bicycle.
674. The Fourth Criminal Examining Magistrate of Neiva was instructed to carry out
675. investigations into this double murder. Raúl Tafur was arrested in connection
676. with this crime because he threatened José Cedeño when he was inebriated; he
677. made a statement before the above-mentioned court. The families of the
678. deceased were contacted so they might say whether the latter had received
679. threats but they declared that they knew nothing and did not want to assist in
680. the proceedings. It was ascertained that the possible authors of the double
681. murder were two persons travelling on a red and white motor cycle 250 XT,
682. although up to the present date it has not been possible to identify this
683. motor cycle or discover its whereabouts. Furthermore, in the place the events
684. occurred, it is difficult to obtain information which might throw light on the
685. case because there are no houses in the vicinity. The Second Higher Magistrate
686. of Neiva is the Examining Magistrate.
687. José Rutilio Quintero. Banana worker (Turbo, Urabá, Antioquia) died on 19
688. June 1985 when units of the Voltigeros battalion fired on a group of banana
689. workers accompanying the negotiating committee which was bringing a list of
690. claims to the Mayor of Turbo, just as they were handing over the list. As a
691. result of this military action Ovidio Becerra Puerta, Jesús Mendoza González
692. and Domingo Estrada Guerra were also wounded.
693. This person was taking part in a banned meeting on the eve of the strike of
694. 20 June 1985, during which an army platoon was attacked. One of the soldiers,
695. as he was being attacked with a club with nails, fired his rifle which
696. resulted in the death of José Rutilio Quintero and injured other workers. The
697. trial is under way.
698. b) Allegations on the kidnapping or disappearance of trade union leaders and
699. trade unionists
700. Miguel Angel Díaz. Leader of the National Federation of State Employees
701. (FENALTRASE), kidnapped in September 1984 by the MAS paramilitary group at
702. Puerto Boyacá.
703. Faustino López. Leader of the National Agricultural Trade Union Federation,
704. FENSA, kidnapped in September 1984 by the MAS paramilitary group at Puerto
705. Boyacá.
706. The First Criminal Magistrate of the circuit of Timja reported that on 19 May
707. 1986, Jorge Luis Barrero was found guilty of kidnapping the above-mentioned
708. persons and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. However, the whereabouts of
709. these persons are unknown and in accordance with the Colombian legal system,
710. it is up to the police authorities and the Prosecutor's Department for the
711. Armed Forces to carry out investigations to discover the victims of the
712. kidnappings.
713. The wife of Miguel Angel Díaz told the mission that, to her knowledge, Jorge
714. Luis Barrero had not been captured.
715. Gustavo Alcalde Ospina. President of the Union of Workers of the Anchicayá
716. Electrical Power Station, detained on 12 August 1985 by a military patrol in
717. Cali.
718. According to information from the 21st Criminal Examining Magistrate of Cali,
719. investigations were made on the basis of the complaint filed by Alcalde
720. Ospina's companion, in which she stated that she had not been asked for any
721. money for his release and did not find him either in the hospitals or in the
722. morgue. The Magistrate carried out investigations on the person who reported
723. the crime, Luis Gonzaga Giraldo, work colleague of the missing person, and
724. requested information from the Palacé batallion, with its headquarters in
725. Buga, where there had been rumours that the missing person might be in the
726. infirmary; however it was ascertained that he had never been there. The court
727. decided not to open investigations because the facts reported are not
728. considered as crimes in criminal law and because there was no evidence that
729. there had been a murder, an attempted murder or personal injuries.
730. According to information provided by the Prosecutor for the Armed Forces,
731. Alcalde Ospina gave up his trade union membership of his own free will in
732. January 1985; consequently, at the time he disappeared, he was no longer a
733. trade unionist and his disappearance can therefore in no way be linked to
734. trade union persecution. In January 1986, a person named Rosero from the Urabá
735. region went to the Valle del Cauca section of the Administrative Security
736. Department and declared that there should be concern for Alcalde Ospina, since
737. the latter was being held by a group of persons in this region.
738. The Government concludes by pointing out that it is clear that Alcalde Ospina
739. is not a trade unionist, that he was not arrested by the military authorities
740. and that he was in a region of the country in which subversive groups operate
741. frequently; Ospina might have joined these groups of his own free will or be
742. held by them. The state police force is continuing investigations into the
743. whereabouts of this person.
744. Andrés Luna and Yate Aroca. Rural leaders from Coyaima, Tolima, detained by a
745. police patrol on 22 November 1985.
746. The above were arrested on the pathway of Nueva Esperanza, Coyaima, after a
747. complaint lodged by Miguel González Guarnizo that he had been subjected to
748. extortion and death threats by these two persons. They finally came before the
749. 36th Specialised Criminal Examining Magistrate's Court of Ibagué which
750. pronounced judgement on 29 November 1985 and freed them.
751. José Jairo Gómez Cadena. Leader of the print workers at Armenia, Quindéo,
752. detained on 22 June 1985 by three men who identified themselves as agents of
753. F-2, the secret organ of the police.
754. According to the Government, the IO should request specific information from
755. the complainant organisation as to whether this person is free, because the
756. authorities whom the Ministry of Labour requested for information do not have
757. any records or details whatsoever on his alleged detention.
758. Eric Ariza Roncancio. Teacher belonging to the Teachers' Association of the
759. Department of Santander, disappeared on 12 May 1986 when he was taking part in
760. a teachers' strike.
761. On 11 May, the police were informed that he had disappeared and, following
762. investigations, he was found in his home on 14 of the same month, where he was
763. apparently under the effect of drugs and had several marks on his body which,
764. he maintained, were inflicted on him by unknown persons who attacked him.
765. Seventy workers of the Malaria Eradication Service.
766. On 25 April 1985, Aldo Cadena, President of the National Health Union -
767. SINDES - reported that 70 workers of the National Malaria Eradication Service,
768. SEM, had disappeared from working areas and demanded from the Government their
769. return alive and means of subsistence for their families.
770. The Government did not make any observations on this allegation.
771. Allegations on death threats to trade union officials
772. In its communication of 24 March 1986, the WFTU alleges that the following
773. trade union officials had received death threats:
774. Gustavo Osorio. President of the Trade Union Confederation of Colombian
775. Workers (CSTC), and President of the National Federation of Construction and
776. Cement Workers, receives death threats every day by telephone and letter.
777. Angelino Garzón. Trade union leader of workers employed by the State and
778. Secretary-General of the Trade Union Confederation of Colombian Workers (CSTC)
779. , receives death threats every day by telephone or letter. The other CSTC
780. leaders, and the leaders of affiliated organisations, have also received
781. threats.
782. Aida Avella. President of the National Federation of State Employees -
783. FENALTRASE - receives death threats by telephone and letter.
784. Jaime Dussán. Secretary-General of FECODE, keeps receiving death threats.
785. Gerardo González. Secretary-General of the National Agricultural Trade Union
786. Federation of Colombia - FENSA.
787. José Galvis. Member of the Executive Secretariat of FENSA. Argemiro Correa.
788. President of SINTRAGRO, Urabá, Antioquia. Manuel Méndez. Secretary of
789. SINTRABANANO, Urabá, Antioquia.
790. With regard to these allegations, the Government pointed out that although
791. any citizen receiving threats against his life, honour or goods is entitled to
792. lodge a complaint on the matter with the National Police, the Prosecutor's
793. Department for the Armed Forces summoned the above-mentioned persons to
794. appear, as they had allegedly been threatened, in order to hear their
795. complaint, but that only Aida Avella and Jaime Dussán Calderón came forward.
796. Mr. Dussán declared under solemn oath that: "in July of last year, I was
797. threatened by an organisation signing itself as 'Democracy' in a card
798. delivered to my home ... I do not know where it came from nor could I affirm
799. that the Military Forces are involved. The Government of Huila, the Ninth
800. Brigade and DAS were informed of this event and they offered me protection on
801. various occasions, without my accepting it ... I have not had further death
802. threats".
803. Mrs. Avella stated that she received her first threat in 1976 and the most
804. recent one in June 1985. When asked if she had the letters containing the
805. death threats she had received, she replied that she had a photocopy of one
806. and that, at this time, the same letter had been sent to several trade union
807. officials. She was also asked if she knew the outcome of the investigations
808. into the death of several trade union officials and stated that they were
809. following their normal course but that "one thing that is sure is that the
810. deaths and disappearances are the work of paramilitary groups such as MAS ...
811. ".
812. The Government draws attention to two facts: a) Messrs. Osorio, Garzón,
813. González, Galvis, Correa and Méndez, who had also allegedly been threatened,
814. did not appear before the Attorney-General's office to lodge their complaints
815. when asked to do so, which shows that they are unconcerned whether or not the
816. competent authorities investigate the complaints they have brought before the
817. international organisations; and b) it can be clearly deduced from Mr.
818. Dussán's statement that he did not accept the protection offered by the
819. authorities and the question must be asked: "What more can the State do for
820. him?" For her part, Mrs. Avella is sure that the threats came from
821. paramilitary groups, i.e., that they did not come from any state organisation.
822. The ill-termed "paramilitary groups" are not parallel to the legally
823. instituted military forces but groups of common criminals who, paid by other
824. persons or acting on their own account, are trying to spread terror amongst
825. honest people.
826. The Government concludes by saying that the authorities are struggling
827. constantly to put an end to these groups but it is difficult to provide
828. personal protection to trade unionists who say they have been threatened
829. because they do not appear before the competent authorities to uphold their
830. complaints or accept their protection; neither can they state with certainty
831. from where the threats come.
832. Geneva, 25 September 1986. G. von Potobsky.
833. LIST OF INTERLOCUTERS
834. Civil authorities
835. - Jorge Carrillo Rojas, Minister of Labour and Social Security.
836. - Luis Aldana Rozo, Vice-President of the Supreme Court of Justice.
837. - Carlos Jimenez Gómez, Attorney-General of the Nation.
838. - Pablo Rubén Vernaza García, Deputy-Minister of the Interior.
839. - Antonio Duque Alvarez, National Director of Criminal Investigations.
840. - Vivian Cock Ordóñez, Head of the International Relations Department of the
841. Minister of Labour and Social Security.
842. - Germán Plazas, Head of the Collective Labour Relations Division of the
843. Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
844. - Hernando Llano, Official of the Committee of Human Rights at the
845. Attorney-General's Office.
846. Military authorities and the police
847. - General Victor Alberto Delgado Mallarino, Director-General of the National
848. Police.
849. - General Medina Sánchez, Deputy-Director of National Police.
850. - Major-General Nelson Mejéa Henao, Prosecutor for the Armed Forces.
851. Trade union organisations
852. Trade Union Confederation of Columbian workers (CSTC)
853. - Gustova Osorio, President.
854. - Juan Gallardo, Vice-President.
855. - Angelino Garzón, Secretary-General.
856. - Luis Gonzaga Giraldo, Acting Secretary.
857. - José Galvis, Secretary of Agrarian Affairs.
858. - Olga Luz Cifuentes, Secretary of Women's Affairs.
859. - Henry Cuenca, Trustee.
860. - Fernando Quintero, Trade Union Editor.
861. National Federation of State Employees (FENALTRASE)
862. - Ligia Cáceres, Secretary of International Affairs
863. - Dalida Cárdenas
864. Federation of Workers' Unions in Public Undertakings (FENASINTRAP)
865. - David Barguelo, Secretary responsible for records
866. National Federation of Columbian Bank Trade Unions (FENASIBANCOL)
867. - Miguel Angel Pérez, Secretary-General
868. - Alberto Velandia, Administrator
869. Union of Columbian Workers (UTC)
870. - Alfonso Vargas, Secretary-General
871. - Manuel Vélez, Secretary of Communications
872. - Luis Prado, Secretary of Education
873. - Natanael Gutiérrez, member of the UTC Governing Board and auditor to the
874. National Agrarian Federation (FANAL-UTC)
875. Confederation of Columbian Workers (CTC)
876. - Manuel Felipe Hurtado, President
877. - Apecides Albis, Vice-President
878. - Gustavo Sespa, Secretary in charge of Planning
879. - Tania Rosiesco, Secretary in charge of Children's Affairs
880. General Confederation of Labour (CGT)
881. - Alvaro Ramírez Pinilla, President Employers' organisations
882. National Association of Manufacturers (ANDI)
883. - Jairo Escobar Padrón, Vice-President of Social and Labour Affairs
884. - Fernando Bernal, Deputy-Manager of Legal Affairs
885. National Federation of Tradesmen (FENALCO)
886. - Juan Martín Caicedo Ferrer, President
887. Other persons interviewed:
888. - Alfredo Vásquez Carrizosa, President of the Standing Committee on Human
889. Rights
890. - Mrs. de Díaz (wife of one of the missing persons)