Definitive Report - Report No 56, 1961

Case No 159 (Cuba) - Complaint date: 20-DEC-56 - Closed

1. 71. In February 1958 the Committee resumed its examination of the various complaints, submitted by the Confederation of Workers for Latin America and the W.F.T.U, dated 20 December 1956 and 7 March 1957, alleging violations of trade union rights in Cuba.
2. 72. At that time the Committee submitted its final conclusions regarding some of the allegations; these were adopted by the Governing Body at its 138th Session (February-March 1958). As regards the allegations contained in the communication from the W.F.T.U dated 7 March 1957, and on which the Government made certain comments in its communications of 6 May and 20 August of the same year, the Committee recommended the Governing Body to request the Government " to furnish information as to the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the persons mentioned by name in the complaint of the W.F.T.U and, particularly, on the conclusions reached in the judicial investigations into these events".
3. 73. In a statement submitted by the Legal Department of the General Staff, dated 1 November 1958, the Government supplied some information on the circumstances in which Alejo Tomás López, Hector Infante Pérez, Isaac Hernández Oliver, Loynaz Hechavarria y Cordovez and Luis Sera Moreno lost their lives. According to that statement, the legal proceedings, which were initially instituted in the ordinary courts, were subsequently transferred to the military courts, and the proceedings against the persons apparently implicated in those crimes were dropped for lack of evidence.
4. 74. As the reply mentioned in the previous paragraph did not cover all the persons on whom the Committee had asked the Government for information with regard to the circumstances of their deaths and the legal proceedings taken against the persons responsible or presumed to be responsible, the Committee, at its 20th Session (November 1958), instructed the Director-General to ask the Government to communicate the conclusions reached in the judicial investigations into the deaths of the other persons mentioned in the complaint of the W.F.T.U, namely Armando Guzmán and Enrique Morgan, of the Preston Plant; Antonio Valencio Consuegro, of the Manati Plant; Silverio Hernández, sugar worker; Antonio Concepción Paradio, workers' leader at Puerto Padre; Jesús Feliú Meyva, tobacco worker; and Tilmo Esperanza, painter.
5. 75. In the absence of any reply to the earlier request for information the Committee deferred examination of the case at its 21st (February 1959), 22nd (May 1959), 23rd (November 1959), 24th (February 1960), 25th (May 1960), 26th (November 1960) and 27th (February 1961) Sessions. The Government sent its reply in a communication dated 6 April 1961.
6. 76. As there has been a change of political régime in Cuba since the occurrence of the incidents alleged the reply of the Government is of particular interest. The Government recognises the allegations to be well-founded but requests the I.L.O to take into account the date on which they occurred, as, in its view, the complaint has no longer any relevance as far as the Cuban workers are concerned and, moreover, all confusion with regard to the true identity of the persons responsible must be avoided. The communication states that the Revolutionary Government was in no way responsible for such atrocities; they were the work of the tyranny which, by dint of tremendous struggles and sacrifices, the revolutionary movement finally succeeded in ousting and replacing by a system of government which fully respects all the rights of the people and has established trade union rights in the truest and most positive sense of the term. In conclusion the communication states that the basis and principal objective of the efforts of the new régime is the defence of the working classes and that the principal aim of its policy is the promotion and safeguarding of the exercise of trade union rights to the fullest possible extent.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 77. The only allegation put forward in this case on which a decision by the Committee is still required is that concerning the violent deaths of the persons mentioned in the W.F.T.U complaint. The information on the circumstances of their deaths and the legal proceedings taken against the persons responsible or presumed to be responsible, for which the Government had been asked, had been received, in an extremely fragmentary form, when the change of régime took place in the country. The new Government has also failed to supply the information for which the Committee has repeatedly asked. In its reply it merely states that the allegations are well founded but that the new Government does not consider itself responsible for the atrocities perpetrated by the previous one.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 78. In certain earlier cases I the Committee took the view that, where a change of régime had taken place in a country, the new government should take all necessary steps to remedy any continuing effects which events complained of as having taken place under its predecessor might have had since its accession to power; for instance in Case No. 13 (Bolivia) z, the Committee, after examining allegations concerning infringements of trade union rights by a government which had subsequently been overthrown, expressed the view that, although the government in power " can obviously not be held responsible for events which took place under its predecessor, it clearly is responsible for any continuing consequences which they may have had since its accession to power ".
2. 79. The Committee has, however, also accepted the principle - where circumstances of the kind mentioned in the previous paragraph do not obtain-of discontinuing examination of complaints relating to political situations which no longer exist. In the present case there has obviously been a change in the political situation. Consequently, in view of the change of political régime which has taken place in Cuba and the statement made by the new Government in its communication of 6 April 1961 (see paragraph 76 above), the Committee considers that the events referred to in the complaint are no longer of current interest and that, in addition, they do not seem to have given rise to any consequences which might continue to make themselves felt under the new régime.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 80. In all the circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that, for the reasons indicated in paragraphs 76 to 79 above, the case does not call for further examination.