Definitive Report - REPORT_NO3, 1952

6. At the end of March 1950, the three complainants laid before the I.L.O three identical complaints relating to the violent death of Mr. Luis Negreiros, Secretary of the Peruvian Confederation of Labour. Informed of these complaints by a telegram dated 25 May 1950 the Peruvian Government replied by a telegram of 3 June 1950 and letter of 19 June of the same year. In the meantime, by a letter of 31 May 1950, Mr. Delaney, in the name of the American Federation of Labor, presented a further complaint against the Peruvian Government concerning the general situation of the trade union movement in Peru. This complaint was accompanied by two memoranda prepared by the Peruvian Confederation of Labour. By a letter dated 3 June 1950 the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions associated itself with the complaint.

1. 6. At the end of March 1950, the three complainants laid before the I.L.O three identical complaints relating to the violent death of Mr. Luis Negreiros, Secretary of the Peruvian Confederation of Labour. Informed of these complaints by a telegram dated 25 May 1950 the Peruvian Government replied by a telegram of 3 June 1950 and letter of 19 June of the same year. In the meantime, by a letter of 31 May 1950, Mr. Delaney, in the name of the American Federation of Labor, presented a further complaint against the Peruvian Government concerning the general situation of the trade union movement in Peru. This complaint was accompanied by two memoranda prepared by the Peruvian Confederation of Labour. By a letter dated 3 June 1950 the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions associated itself with the complaint.
2. 7. In accordance with the procedure then in force, the case was laid before the Officers of the Governing Body. After consideration, it was decided, with the consent of the representative of the American Federation of Labor acting in agreement with the representative of the Inter-American Confederation of Labor, to suspend the preliminary examination of the complaints in view of the favourable developments in the trade union situation in Peru, developments which appeared likely to enable the matters in dispute to be settled by negotiation. Consequently, all action in the case was temporarily suspended and the second complaint concerning the general situation of trade unionism in Peru was not communicated at that time to the Government concerned. Subsequent to the January meeting of the present Committee the Peruvian Government was requested for its observations concerning this second complaint and replied by a letter of 1 March 1952.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

• Analysis of the Case
  8. 8 As the complaints relate to two series of events it is desirable to examine them separately.

A. Complaint relating to the Violent Death of Mr. Luis Negreiros

• Analysis of the Complaint.
  9. 9 The complainants allege that Mr. Luis Negreiros, Secretary of the Peruvian Confederation of Labour, was killed in Lima by the police during the night of 23-24 March 1950 ; he was the victim of a policy systematically pursued by the Peruvian Government with a view to destroying the free trade union movement.
• Analysis of the Reply
  10. 10 In its reply of 17 June 1950 the Peruvian Government makes, in particular, the following statements:
      • (a) Mr. Negreiros was one of the leaders of the " Alianza popular revolucionaria Americana (A.P.R.A) ", an outlawed political party, and not in fact a trade union leader. As a representative of the Federation of Tramway Motormen and of the Salaried Employees' Association, he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Confederation of Labour, but these two organisations did not renew his term of office. While he continued to sit on the Executive Committee of the Confederation, this was purely for political reasons.
      • (b) Accused of having taken part, in October 1948, in the mutiny of the Peruvian fleet in the port of Callao and in the sanguinary events which then took place and for which the A.P.R.A. Party was responsible, Mr. Negreiros found himself a fugitive with a warrant out for his arrest.
      • (c) When he was about to be arrested, on 14 March 1949, Mr. Negreiros succeeded in escaping by firing on the police.
      • (d) The police report relating to the circumstances of his death on 23 March 1950-a confidential report which was transmitted by the Peruvian Government as an annex to its reply-indicates that, according to the evidence of Mr. Negreiros' automobile driver, Mr. Negreiros, who always carried a revolver, fired on the police when he perceived that officers were surrounding him and were about to effect his arrest. In fact, the police had been aware of a rendezvous which he had arranged and had made the necessary preparations to effect his arrest. It was during an exchange of shots which followed his opening fire that he was killed.
      • (e) The Government concludes that this case, of a purely internal domestic character, is not within the competence of the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission.
  11. 11 In view of the details contained in the comprehensive documentation supplied by the Peruvian Government with regard to the circumstances of the death of Mr. Negreiros and the highly political nature of the events in which he was involved, the Committee, considering that the complainant has not furnished sufficient evidence to justify the referral of the complaint to the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission, recommends the Governing Body to decide that this aspect of the case does not call for further examination.

B. Complaint relating to the General Trade Union Situation in Peru

• Analysis of the Complaint
  12. 12 With regard to the general situation of the trade union movement in Peru, the complainants make, in particular, the following allegations:
      • (a) Measures of repression against the Peruvian trade union movement began in August 1947, when the Police Minister, now the President of the Military Government, Mr. Manuel Odria, with an unjustified suspension of Constitutional guarantees, unleashed a campaign of violence against the trade unions. The principal characteristics of this first aggression against the Peruvian trade unions were the following : violation of trade union premises, " freezing " of trade union funds, examination of correspondence and archives of trade union leaders.
      • (b) The present régime in Peru has passed a law, called " Home Security " Law, which brutally attacks civil and trade union rights and even goes to the extreme of forbidding " the attempt to strike ".
      • (c) The funds of the Peruvian Confederation of Workers (C.T.P) have been seized by order of the authorities.
      • (d) The premises of this organisation, situated in the City of Lima, at 173 Calle Tigre, have been closed down. The same thing happened to all its branches, as, for example, the Trade Union Federation (Union Sindical de Trabajadores) of the North, with its seat in Chiclayo, the Trade Union Federation of the East, with its seat in Iquitos, and the Trade Union Federation of Junin, with its seat in Huancayo, and the Trade Union Federation of the South, with its seat in Arequipa.
      • (e) All the press organs of the C.T.P and its branches have been wholly closed down, among them its official organ " Cetepé ".
      • (f) A strike called by the trade unions in the sugar-producing region in the North of Peru, covering workers on the Cartavia, Paramonga, Chiclin and Casa Grande plantations, was put down violently by the police, who shot and wounded a number of workers.
      • (g) Hundreds of trade union leaders and members have been and still are victims of police persecution, which obliges them to go into hiding to avoid being murdered or imprisoned. Many trade union leaders have been imprisoned on one or more occasions; some, like the Press Secretary of the C.T.P, Sr. Luis Lopez Aliaga, have been expelled from the country after months in prison and, finally, many remain in prison without trial. The complaint contains a list of persons detained in this way.
      • (h) The case of the Secretary-General of the Confederation of Workers of Peru, Sr. Arturo Sabroso Montoya, who has undergone a year of imprisonment in spite of his bad health, must be considered separately. The injustice with which he was deprived of his liberty has been proved beyond doubt by his acquittal by the Military Tribunal, before which he had been accused of alleged participation in the revolt in Puerto del Callao on 3 October 1948. This acquittal is all the more significant when it is recalled that this tribunal has its origin in, and is characterised by, the desire to condemn all those who have the misfortune to appear before it.
      • (i) At least a brief commentary must be made on the decision of the Military Tribunal to give, once more, a clear idea of the prevailing situation in Peru as regards trade union rights. None of the persons condemned are trade union leaders. Now, although the tribunal felt obliged, faced as it was with the irrefutable innocence of these defendants, to absolve the trade union leaders from all blame, they are still in prison. This is the case regarding Messrs. Fortunata Jara and José Sandoval, to mention only two names.
  13. Analysis of the Reply
  13. 13 In reply to the second complaint, the Peruvian Government states, in particular, that:
      • (a) The present Government respects the principle contained in Article 27 of the Political Constitution of the Republic relative to trade union rights, as shown by: the normal developments in the life of trade unions, the organisation of new trade unions, the holding of regional labour congresses, the progress in collective bargaining, the exercise of the right to strike, the reinstatement of expelled officials, the circulation of trade union periodicals, the attendance of leaders at international trade union conferences and other evidence of trade union activity.
      • (b) Mr. Serafin Romualdi, Latin American Director of the American Federation of Labor and Regional Director of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, on various occasions, among others at the Convention of the first-named organisation held at San Francisco in September 1950, has publicly stated his opinion that the workers in this country enjoy freedom in trade union activities.
      • (c) While the facts themselves show that the allegations relative to the violation of trade union rights are unfounded, the Government of Peru refuses to give its consent to have the matter referred for enquiry to the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission because the form in which it has been presented involves an interference with internal affairs which properly pertain to its sovereignty.
      • (d) It is well known that workers in Peru enjoy advanced social benefits, a fact which places the country on a level above the accusations which have been formulated.
  14. 14 In support of its statements, the Peruvian Government has transmitted to the Office a detailed Memorandum in reply to the allegations contained in the complaints addressed to the International Labour Office by the American Federation of Labor. It appears therefrom that:
      • (a) The Aprista Party sought to undermine the stability of Constitutional processes. Its subversive action, which culminated in the uprising in Callao on 3 December 1948, led to the issuance of Supreme Decree No. 23 of 4 October 1948 declaring illegal the Popular Revolutionary American Alliance (A.P.R.A or People's Party), names which they indiscriminately used. The Military Council of the Government subsequently supplemented this measure, placing the Aprista and communist parties outside the law, considering the similarity in their objects and the fact that the actions taken by both parties coincided with each other. Under these measures there has been no violation of premises, freezing of union funds, violation of correspondence and records of trade union offices, as alleged. The action was directed in accordance with the text of the decrees forwarded to the international organisations referred to and was entirely limited to carrying into effect the declaration that the said parties are outside the law.
      • (b) The Law on Internal Security is the legal instrument by which the Government deals with cases in which the life of democratic institutions is endangered and in which may be repeated the series of acts of violence and abuse which characterised the Apristist and communist activities to which the Arequipa Revolution put an end. Nevertheless, it should be noted that this law has not been applied for the most part and in no case against trade unions. A list of the important strikes called since the beginning of the period of the Military Government is also furnished to show that the allegation that the said law impedes the legal exercise of the right to strike is without foundation.
      • (c) It is not true that the funds of the Confederation of Workers of Peru have been attached. The legal guarantees enjoyed by bank deposits exclude moreover any unilateral, arbitrary action. It may be noted, finally, that trade unions are not generally organisations with considerable economic resources and have no deposits in the banks. The dues cover ordinary expenses and for special occasions it is necessary to make extraordinary assessments.
      • (d) The premises at 173 Tigre Street in Lima, the use of which it has given and continues to give to trade unions which have no premises of their own, have always belonged to the Government. Among these at one time was the C.T.P. The premises at Tigre Street have not been closed for a single moment and continue to be open. There is an administrator, whose position is provided for in the general budget of the Republic, to attend to the needs of internal order in relation to hygiene, sanitation, distribution and other administrative aspects. The trade unions in the North, the East, Junin and Arequipa were de facto organisations, which were not established in accordance with the standards prescribed by our legislation. The Government tolerated the functioning of these organisations, and their ceasing to operate is due, first, to the fact that they were institutions of an essentially political character designed to co-ordinate the action of the unions which combined for exclusively political ends and which ceased to respond to such ends when the Aprista party which sponsored them was dissolved, and, secondly, to the fact that the artificial existence of this type of federation became pointless when the unions properly acting as such assumed directly the representation of workers. A copy of the resolution providing for the use of the premises at No. 173 Tigre Street by unions which have no premises of their own, and for the purchase of a site in Arequipa for similar purposes, is also furnished, as well as a list of the unions in the districts where the above-mentioned unions operated, which are the ones that have come to represent the workers.
      • (e) Neither is it true that organs of the trade union press have been repressed. A list of the periodicals of trade unions and some copies of the same are also furnished.
      • (f) The allegation that the right to strike of workers in sugar establishments in the North has been curtailed in any manner is absolutely false. The statement that the police had, on this occasion, shot and wounded workers could be qualified as a mere product of the imagination if the political intention which inspired the authors were not so evident. The workers in the sugar plantations in the North (Paramonga, Cartavio, Chiclin and Casagrando) have obtained wage increases and improvements in their working and living conditions in the last years by means of normally conducted collective bargaining, with the assistance of labour authorities. The right of petition and the right to strike have been used on these occasions by the workers at the Cartavio plantation, the place where the claims were brought to a head, but this fact did not prevent the extension of the benefits obtained to the other sugar centres mentioned.
      • (g) The police do not persecute workers on account of their trade union activities. The arrests and the judgments that followed were carried out against the persons who were found to have participated in the uprising at Callao on 3 October 1948. None of the persons named in the Memorandum in question is detained. No trade union officer is the object of persecution by the police. We do not know whether the statement that there are trade union leaders who have fled refers to Aprista leaders who have done so in order to avoid the application of the penalties imposed by the courts, or by their own party in accordance with its code of discipline, a copy of which is supplied.
      • (h) It may be noted, first, that the Military Council, on assuming control of the Government, found Mr. Sabroso under trial and detention. In view of the state of his health, it proceeded to have him transferred immediately to an institution where he received adequate medical attention until the moment he was freed. Secondly, the acquittal of Mr. Sabroso by the Court established for the trial of the participants in the Callao rebellion demonstrates the absolute impartiality and independence with which the Court acted, contrary to the interpretation which an attempt has been made to place on these facts. At present, Mr. Sabroso exercises with full freedom his trade union functions in both the national and international fields, as delegate of the Santa Catalina Textile Union No. 1, to the Federation of Textile Workers of Peru and as President of the Regional Inter-American Workers' Organisation.
      • (i) This point has already been referred to in the preceding paragraph. Nevertheless, it may be pointed out that Messrs. Sandoval and Jara are not detained. Moreover, the first of these gentlemen is actually the manager of El Obrero Textil (The Textile Worker), official organ of the Federation of Textile Workers of Peru, of which Mr. Arturo Sabroso is director, as may be seen in a copy of the said newspaper for the month of October 1951, which is also supplied.
  15. 15 The Government also annexed to its reply a number of documents which were available to the Committee.
• Conclusions
  16. 16 In its reply, the Government of Peru, while considering that the facts alleged by the complainants are without any foundation, states that it will refuse to consent to the case being referred to the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission on Freedom of Association, on the ground that the complaint has been presented in such a form that it constitutes an interference in the internal affairs of the country which are a matter exclusively of national sovereignty.
  17. 17 In accordance with the procedure laid down by the Governing Body, the question raised by the Government need not be considered unless and until the Governing Body itself should decide that the Government concerned should be invited to give its consent to the referral of the case to the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission.
  18. 18 With regard to the allegations relating to the general situation of the trade union movement in Peru, the versions given by the two parties differ profoundly. According to the complainants, the trade union movement was entirely paralysed by the measures taken by the Government, while the Government states that these measures, dictated by the need to maintain public order, were directed exclusively against the participants in a revolutionary movement and in no way directed against the trade union movement as such.
  19. 19 In its examination of the case, the Committee took account of two facts-that the very serious allegations formulated by the complainants relate to a period disturbed by the revolutionary movements of 1948 to 1949, and that the present situation is entirely different from that in 1948 and 1949.
  20. 20 With regard to this point, the most characteristic feature is clearly the fact that the Constitutional guarantees-including the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of association-temporarily suspended during the revolutionary crisis, have been wholly re-established by the present Government and that the Government has stated that its policy is to respect fully the principle contained in Article 27 of the political Constitution of the Republic relative to trade union rights. The Government furthermore refers to a number of concrete examples which appear to demonstrate that all the restrictions on freedom of association have in fact been raised; such examples are the free functioning of occupational organisations, the free establishment of new trade unions, the freedom of holding trade union meetings and congresses, the development of collective bargaining, the freedom to resort to strikes, the restoration of trade union officials to their former functions, the freedom of the trade union press, the participation of trade union leaders in international meetings or congresses.