Definitive Report - Report No 133, 1972

Case No 571 (Bolivia (Plurinational State of)) - Complaint date: 23-DEC-68 - Closed

1. 17. The Committee has already submitted four interim reports on this case contained respectively in paragraphs 191 to 206 of its 112th Report, paragraphs 276 to 315 of its 116th Report, paragraphs 81 to 87 of its 124th Report and paragraphs 79 to 92 of its 131st Report.
2. 18. Bolivia has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87); it has not, on the other hand, ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

19. Following the last examination of this case by the Committee at its May 1972 session the only allegations remaining outstanding were those concerning the detention of Mr. Barrisueta, a leader of Bolivian Trade Union Action (ASIB).

1. 20. In a telegram dated 23 December 1968 the complainants alleged that Mr. Alejandro Barrisueta, a leader of Bolivian Trade Union Action (ASIB) had been imprisoned in La Paz with other miners' trade union leaders, and held incommunicado. Subsequently, in a communication dated 23 January 1969 they gave further details to the effect that Mr. Barrisueta had been arrested on 19 December 1968 and that on the 24th of the same month the ASIB had applied for a writ of habeas corpus with a view to obtaining his release, since, in the meantime, the other arrested workers had been released. Following the application for the writ of habeas corpus, the authorities are alleged to have informed ASIB that Mr. Barrisueta had been banished to Ixiamas. The complainants added what follows: " What is clear is that, according to the authorities, comrade Barrisueta was released on the night of 24 December. The information we have received shows that he was subjected to severe physical torture during his imprisonment, but the most serious part of the affair is that his whereabouts is unknown. All the signs suggest that Barrisueta is being held by the police so that the lamentable physical state he has been placed in by the torture shall not be known."
2. 21. In a first reply the Government confined itself to stating that Mr. Barrisueta was not registered as an officer of any trade union organisation in the country. In a later communication the Government stated that Mr. Barrisueta " was detained only for 24 hours during investigation of the possibility of his having taken part in the murder of a citizen, which is a crime under ordinary law in accordance with the general legislation of all countries ".
3. 22. At its May 1969 session the Committee recommended the Governing Body to request the Government of Bolivia to be good enough to reply without delay to the allegations contained in the complaint, indicating the whereabouts of Mr. Barrisueta. The Committee made a similar recommendation to the Governing Body at its sessions of February 1970 and May 1971.
4. 23. At its session in May 1972, in the absence of the information that had been requested of the Government, the Committee recommended the Governing Body:
5. (a) to take note of the fact that the political system in Bolivia has changed since the events referred to by the complainants in the allegations;
6. (b) to recall the principle whereby there exists a link of continuity between successive governments in the same State and that, although a government cannot be held responsible for events which took place under a preceding one, it has a clear responsibility for any consequences which those events might have produced since its accession to power. Furthermore, should there be a change of government or political system in a country, the government of the day should take all the necessary steps to remedy any continuing effects which the events on which the complaint is based may have had since its accession to power, even though those events took place under its predecessor;
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8. (e) to recall the importance which should be attached to the principle that all arrested persons should be subject to normal judicial procedure in accordance with the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in accordance with the principle that it is a fundamental right of the individual that a detained person should be brought without delay before the appropriate judge, this right being recognised in such instruments as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and the American Convention on Human Rights;
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10. (g) to request the Director-General to maintain all appropriate forms of contact with the Government in order to obtain the information requested from it concerning the fate of Mr. Barrisueta.
11. 24. These conclusions of the Committee, as adopted by the Governing Body, having been made known to the Government on 19 June 1972, the Government replied by two communications dated 10 August and 11 October 1972.
12. 25. In these communications the Government states that Mr. Barrisueta is at present resident in Cochabamba and that he there carries on an occupation in road transport and enjoys full freedom.

26. The Committee notes that the allegations go back to 1968, and regrets that the Government should have delayed so long in sending information relating thereto in spite of the repeated requests made to it. With this reservation, and in the light of the information received, the Committee recommends to the Governing Body to decide that the case does not call for further examination.