Interim Report - Report No 236, November 1984

Case No 1204 (Paraguay) - Complaint date: 20-MAY-83 - Closed

1. 426. The complaint is contained in communications from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) dated 20 and 27 May 1983; additional information was submitted in communications dated 13 October and 16 December 1983. The Government replied in a communication dated 14 September 1984.
2. 427. Paraguay has ratified the Freedom of Association and the Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainant's allegations

1. 428. In its communications dated 20 and 27 May 1983, the complainant alleges that, through the Ministry of Labour and Political Police, the Government of Paraguay has engaged in repressive activities against the trade union organisations which have set up the Trade Union Solidarity Movement (MSS), which published its constitution and objectives on 21 September 1982 in a paid advertisement in the daily newspaper "ABC Color". The complainant adds that, under the pretense that they are advocating "a vast plan of Marxist agitation", the police have been arresting many members of this trade union organisation, the MSS, and carrying out arbitrary searches and unlawful acts of repression in the middle of the night.
   • For example, they have arrested Rubén Lisboa (a leader of the Banco del Brasil Trade Union and Federation of Bank Employees (FETRABAN)), Abel Grange (a shop employee), Gustavo Codas (an ABC Color journalist and member of the Union of Journalists of Paraguay (SPP)), Roberto Villalba, Stella Rufinelli, Margarita Musse, Margarita Elías, Sonia Duque de Arriaza, Sonia Aquino, Desiderio Arzamendia, Benjamín Livieres, Silvano Presentado Acosta, Eulalia Leguizamón, Damián Vera (all employees of the Paraguayan Data Bank (BPD), an advisory institution specialising in the analysis and compilation of national data), Rubén Miró, Javier Joy Salomoni, Fernando Rodríguez Alcalá, Juan Carlos Oviedo and María Herminia Feliciangeli (university leaders).
2. 429. The complainant further alleges that the Minister of the Interior has threatened to send the union leaders, university leaders and journalists who are members of the SPP into exile.
3. 430. The complainant states, moreover, that ABC Color, which published the notice announcing the setting up of the MSS, has been systematically threatened and that its free circulation has been restricted and unlawfully hindered by the police who hold up the vehicles distributing the newspaper every day. On 13 May 1983, police officers surrounded the newspaper's premises early in the morning and seized the copies that were to be sent to the interior of the country.
4. 431. In its communications dated 13 October and 16 December 1983, the complainant indicates that the MSS members cited in its earlier communication are still being held in custody and that their state of health is extremely alarming as a few weeks before they went on an indefinite hunger strike.
5. 432. The complainant states that for the past four years the Union of Journalists of Paraguay has been seeking legal personality through the Ministry of Justice and Labour but that its efforts have been in vain because of the systematic refusal of the authorities to grant the Union legal authorisation. Regarding the Union's leaders, the complainant notes that the Secretary, Mr. Codas Friessmand, is still in asylum in the Venezuelan embassy from where he has been unable to obtain a safe conduct to leave the country and that the Secretary-General, Mr. Alcibiades González del Valle, an ABC Color journalist, was arrested on 23 September "on orders from above" and, once in prison, was accused of infringing Act No. 209 on "the defence of democracy". Furthermore, on 15 July 1983 Mr. Aldo Zuccolillo Director of ABC Color, was arrested for allowing publication of and comments on the events which give rise to the present complaint to the Committee on Freedom of Association. Moreover, Dr. Jorge Alvarenga and Dr. Carlos Cuevas, of the University Hospital, were arrested by the police during a round-table discussion on "Trade unionism and repression"; some days later Dr. Alvarenga was expelled from the country, while Dr. Cuevas is still in prison.
6. 433. The complainant further alleges that, in the La Americana S.A. textile company, a large number of workers have been arbitrarily dismissed following the submission by the trade unions of a list of demands. At the FRISA S.A. company, where the trade unions requested payment of wages due since June 1983, the undertaking reacted by threatening the mass dismissal of 800 workers.
7. 434. Finally, the complainant alleges that Radio Ñanduti (ZP 14) was closed down for transmitting messages from the Paraguayan Confederation of Workers in Exile on 28 August 1983. At the same time, the National Telecommunications Administration (ANTELCO), a State institution, banned the commentator and director of the radio station, Humberto Rubin, from exercising his profession.

B. The Government's reply

1. 435. Referring to the alleged arrests, the Government states that on 3 August 1984 the judge of the Criminal Court of First Instance ordered the release of Antonio Páez, Hans Grossen, Raquel Rojas de Carmona, Sonia Duque de Arriaza, Fernando Esteban Rodriguez Alcalá Zuccolillo, Javier Antonio Joy Salomoni, José Rubén Miró and Eulalia Leguizamón, eight of the 20 persons charged with infringing Act No. 209 on the defence of law and order and freedom of the individual, which outlaws communism in Paraguay and provides for the trial and punishment of any person charged with subversive behaviour. The acting magistrate accepted the plea of the counsel for the defence and therefore ordered their release. The Government observes that the persons released were not directly involved in running the Paraguayan Data Bank, whose activities the police deemed to be subversive and a threat to the security of the State. Of those cited, Antonio Páez, Fernando E. Rodríguez Alcalá Zuccolillo and Javier A. Joy Salomoni own two printing works where some of the publications of the Paraguayan Data Bank were printed.
2. 436. Concerning the 12 other persons charged (Sonia Cristina Aquino, Rubén Lisboa, Benjamín Ramos Livieres, Victoria Abel Granje, Silbano Presentado Acosta, Desiderio Arzamendia, Juan Francisco Arrón Suhurt, Agustín Chamorro, Roberto Villalba Esquivel, Ernest Grossen, Margarita Mussi and Josefina Frasqueri), the examining magistrate confirmed their prison sentences and they therefore remained in state penitentiaries. Subsequently, on 9 September 1984, nine of those arrested for infringing the aforementioned Act and implicated in the Paraguayan Data Bank trial were released by the Criminal Appeals Court. As to the three other persons arrested (Ernest Grossen, Desiderio Arzamendia and Roberto Villalba Esquivel), the Criminal Appeals Court of Feria overturned the decision of the lower court judge on 20 January 1984 and granted their release.
3. 437. The Government adds that on 18 January 1984 the judge of the Criminal Court of First Instance of Feria revoked the prison sentence handed down on María Elizeche, Mónica Pérez Cayetano Quatrolucchi and Luis Ernesto Heisecke, who had been subsequently charged along with the others.
4. 438. Consequently, continues the Government, all 20 persons initially detained, plus four other subsequently charged with infringing Act No. 209, have now been released by order of the competent judge.
5. 439. Finally, the Government states that Gustavo Codas, who was dismissed some time ago from the newspaper where he was employed, is a fugitive from Paraguayan justice who escaped trial by seeking asylum in the Venezuelan embassy which he subsequently fled, thereby abusing the right of asylum and protection granted by the embassy.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 440. Regarding the alleged arrest of 19 members of the Trade Union Solidarity Movement (MSS) on the grounds that they were advocating a vast plan of Marxist agitation, the Committee observes that, according to the Government, one of them (Gustavo Codas) is a fugitive from Paraguayan justice who escaped trial and that 13 others were charged with infringing Act. No. 209 on the defence of law and order and freedom of the individual, which outlaws communism in Paraguay and provides for the punishment of any behaviour deemed to be subversive. According to the Government, these 13 persons were released by the judicial authorities; two on 20 January 1984, five on 3 August 1984 and six on 9 September 1984.
2. 441. The Committee observes that the Government has not indicated the specific facts justifying the arrest and trial of these 13 trade unionists but has merely indicated that they were charged with infringing Act No. 209 on the defence of law and order and freedom of the individual which outlaws communism and provides for the punishment of any behaviour deemed to be subversive. In these circumstances, since the Government has not explicitly denied the complainant's contention that the arrests are part of a campaign of repression following the setting up of the MSS and since the judicial authorities have not upheld any of the charges brought against them, the Committee deeply regrets that they were deprived of their freedom for more than a year in most cases and draws the Government's attention to the fact that the arrest and detention of trade union leaders and trade unionists for trade union reasons constitute a violation of the principles of freedom of association [see, for example, 230th Report, Case No. 1212 (Chile), para. 644]. The Committee requests the Government to send its observations on the arrest of Stella Rufinelli, Margarita Elías, Damián Vera, Juan Carlos Oviedo and Maria Herminia Feliciangeli following the setting up of the MSS of which they are said to be members.
3. 442. Finally, the Committee regrets that the Government has not replied to the remaining allegations: the difficulties encountered by the Union of Journalists of Paraguay (SPP) for the past four years in its attempts to obtain legal personality; the threatened exile of the leaders and members of the SPP; the arrest and trial of the leader of the SPP, Alcibiades González del Valle; the arrest of Aldo Zuccalillo, Director of ABC Color, for allowing the publication of matters of trade union interest; the threats against, harassment of and restrictions imposed on this newspaper for publishing the setting up of the MSS; the arrest of Dr. Jorge Alvarenga and Dr. Carlos Cuevas during a round-table discussion on "Trade unionism and repression"; the arbitrary dismissal of workers from the La Americana S.A. textile company following the submission by the trade unions of a list of demands; the threatened dismissal of 800 workers of the FRISA S.A. company following the request by the trade unions for payment of unpaid wages; the closing down of Radio Ñanduti for transmitting messages from the Paraguayan Confederation of Workers in Exile and the ban on the commentator and director of the radio station from exercising his profession. The Committee requests the Government to send its observations on these matters without delay.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 443. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to approve this interim report and, in particular, the following conclusions:
   • (a) Regarding the arrest of 19 members of the Trade Union Solidarity Movement as part of a campaign of repression following the setting up of this organisation, the Committee observes that, according to the Government, one of the persons concerned is a fugitive from justice who has not been arrested and 13 others were released without the judicial authorities upholding any charges against them. The Committee deeply regrets that these 13 trade unionists were deprived of their freedom for more than a year in most cases and draws the Government's attention to the fact that the arrest and detention of trade union leaders and trade unionists for trade union reasons constitute a violation of the principles of freedom of association. The Committee requests the Government to send its observations on the arrest of Stella Rufinelli, Margarita Elías, Damián Vera, Juan Carlos Oviedo and Maria Herminia Feliciangeli following the setting up of the MSS of which they are said to be members.
   • (b) The Committee regrets that the Government has not replied to the' remaining allegations: the difficulties encountered by the Union of Journalists of Paraguay (SPP) for the past four years in its attempts to obtain legal personality; the threatened exile of the leaders and members of the SPP; the arrest and trial of the leader of the SPP, Alcibiades González del Valle; the arrest of Aldo Zuccalillo, director of ABC Color, for allowing the publication of matters of trade union interest; the threats against, harassment of and restrictions imposed on this newpaper for publishing the setting up of the MSS; the arrest of Dr. Jorge Alvarenga and Dr. Carlos Cuevas during a round-table discussion on "Trade unionism and repression"; the arbitrary dismissal of workers from the La Americana S.A. textile company) following the submission by the trade unions of a list of demands; the threatened dismissal of 800 workers of the FRISAI S.A. company following the request by the trade unions for payment of unpaid wages; the closing down of Radio Nanduti fort transmitting messages from the Paraguayan Confederation of Workers in Exile and the ban on the commentator and director of the radio station from exercising his profession. The Committee requests the Government to send its observations on these matters without delay.