Interim Report - REPORT_NO234, June 1984

1. 571. The complaint appears in a joint communication from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the International Federation of Plantation, Agricultural and Allied Workers (IFPAAW) dated 15 June 1983. IFPAAW sent additional information in communications dated 5 and 25 July, and 12 August 1983. The Government replied in communications dated 5 July and 8 August 1983 and 30 April 1984.
2. 572. Honduras 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).

A. The complainants' allegations

1. 573. The complainants allege that on 29 March 1983 between 8 and 9 p.m., in the vicinity known as El Bálsamo village, between the city of El Progreso and Santa Rita de Yoro, the following trade union leaders and trade unionists of the Workers' Union of the Agricultural and Cattle Raising Company of Sula (SITRACOAGS), affiliated to the IFPAAW in Honduras, were assassinated: Dagoberto Padilla Escoto (president), Ismael Ulloa (records secretary of the Finca 9 (Guanchias) branch office), Angel Alvarado (secretary general of the Finca 9 branch office) and Carlos Aicides Mejía (member of the trade union). Furthermore, Pedro Chavarría (secretary responsible for records and education), Jacobo Núñez (vice-president of the discipline committee) and Eulogio Figueroa (vice-president of the Finca 9 branch) were seriously wounded.
2. 574. The complainants point out that the assassinations occurred three-and-a-half hours after an assembly of workers which had been held in Finca 11. The assembly had been called as a matter of urgency to inform members on agreements which had been reached between the trade union, the undertaking and the Ministry of Labour concerning various unresolved problems.
3. 575. According to the complainants, the events occurred as follows: around 5 p.m., after the end of the meeting, some leaders returned to their respective fields in a Toyota jeep which was the property of the trade union. As they were returning to El Progreso, in Finca 9, they were intercepted by two men dressed in olive green military uniform who were carrying a "Falck" rifle and a shotgun. The so-called military officers asked the trade unionists to drive them to Santa Rita, which they agreed to do. They all got in to the above-mentioned vehicle. As they were leaving the dirt tracks of the banana plantations and reaching the paved road, one of the persons in uniform turned to Dagoberto Padilla, who was driving, and asked him to stop the vehicle in the El Bálsamo village. It was in this place that without any warning the uniformed officer carrying the shotgun fired against Mr. Padilla who fell dead onto the road. The officer fired a second shot at Mr. Padilla when he was already lying dead on the road. The uniformed officer who was carrying the "Falck" rifle then fired against the other trade unionists, using up all his rounds of ammunition. As a result four trade unionists were killed and three seriously wounded.
4. 576. The complainants allege that it was subsequently established that the two assassins masquerading as military officers were in fact vigilantes of the banana plantations who were acting on the direct orders of the steward of the manager's office, for which each had been paid 4,000 lempiras (national currency) and that the steward had received instructions from the security chief of the plantations authorised by the manager and the owners named Echeverri.
5. 577. The complainants also allege that various trade unions reacted publicly to this horrible crime. This was the case in particular with the National Peasants' Association of Honduras (ANACH) which published a communiqué demanding that the civil and military authorities clarify the events as quickly as possible and arrest those responsible. Two days later, the trade union leader of the Executive Council of ANACH, Jacobo Hernández, was assassinated in the city of Danli, at approximately 7 p.m. by an unknown person who fired from a short distance without any provocation. This trade union leader had been participating in settling a dispute concerning unfarmed land.
6. 578. IFPAAW also alleges that after the assassinations, 260 members of the trade union (SITRACOAGS) were dismissed and that at the beginning of July a number of prisoners escaped from the prison at El Progreso-Yoro, including Fausto Rivera García and Marco Antonio Molina, two of the actual perpetrators of the massacre carried out on 29 March 1983.

B. The Government's reply

1. 579. The Government sends a document from the Supreme Court of justice which transcribes a note from the Departmental Court of El Progreso-Yoro, dated 21 July 1983. The said note states that on 30 March 1983 proceedings were instituted in the district criminal court of the above-mentioned city against Marco Antonio Molina Martínez, Fausto García Rivera, Alfredo Villeda Henrriquez and Moisés Reyes Orellana for the murder of Dagoberto Padilla Escoto, Ismael Ulloa, Angel Alvarado and Carlos Alcides Mejia and the attempted murder of Pedro Chavarría, Jacobo Núñez and Eulogio Figueroa, and that the case is still before the court. The proceedings are at the indictment stage and for this reason it is not possible to give more information.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 580. The Committee expresses its deep concern of the serious nature of the allegations which concern the assassination of three trade union leaders and a trade union member of SITRACOAGS and a leader of ANACH, the attempted assassination of three other leaders of SITRACOAGS and the subsequent dismissal of 260 members of SITRACOAGS, especially since it notes that the complainant organisations have stressed the involvement in the alleged events of the manager and owners of the Agricultural and Cattle Raising Company of Sula, on which the Government has not commented.
2. 581. On previous occasions when examining allegations concerning the death of or physical attacks on trade union leaders [see, for example, 233rd Report, Case No. 1233 (El Salvador), paragraph 683] the Committee has requested the Government to undertake without delay an independent judicial inquiry with a view to elucidating the facts in full, determining responsibilities and punishing the guilty parties. The Committee notes in this connection that proceedings have been instituted by the district criminal court against Marco Antonio Molina Martinez, Fausto Garcia Rivera, Alfredo Villeda Henriquez and Moisés Reyes Orellana for the murder of Dagoberto Padilla Escoto, Ismael Ulloa, Angel Alvarado and Carlos Alcides Mejía and the attempted murder of Pedro Chavarría, Jacobo Núñez and Eulogio Figueroa. In these circumstances, the Committee expresses its deep concern at the assassinations and the serious physical attacks against the above-mentioned trade union leaders and trade unionists and requests the Government to inform it of developments in the judicial investigations and to send the text of the judgment to be handed down.
3. 582. The Committee regrets that the Government has not replied to the allegations concerning the assassination of the trade union leader of ANACH, Jacobo Hernández, and the dismissal of 260 members of SITRACOAGS. The Committee requests the Government to transmit its observations on these allegations as a matter of the greatest urgency and to open - if it has not already done so - a judicial inquiry into the assassination of this trade union leader and to inform it of the results.
4. 583. In general, the Committee draws the Government's attention to the fact that freedom of association can only be exercised in conditions in which fundamental human rights, and in particular those relating to the human life and personal safety, are fully respected and guaranteed [see, for example, 233rd Report, Case No. 1233 (El Salvador), paragraph 682]. The Committee requests the Government to take urgent and appropriate measures to ensure that there is no recurrence of the kind of incidents that are described in this complaint.