Murders Of 3 Colombian Drummond Union Leaders Grab Spotlight In Washington
By Stephen Flanagan Jackson
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA---The brutal torture and murders of three Colombia union leaders and workers at an Alabama-owned Colombia coal mine continue to pop up on the American justice radar screen and on the US media screen.
Slowly but surely the controversial case of “The Drummond Three” is emerging as the marquee case among a slew of recent similar cases involving “big” international labor versus US multinationals in a wave of assassinations---and alleged abuses----of trade union members in third world countries. In Colombia, government statistics officially list 800 murder victims from the union ranks in the last six years, rarely resulting in a trial or conviction.
An erstwhile obscure US law---the 1789 Alien Tort Claims Act---is the weapon of choice for international labor’s legal, frontal assault against such US multinationals as Coca-Cola, Del Monte, Unocal, Nestle, and Wal-Mart. The spate of filings alleges a tort---a civil wrongdoing---by the giant corporations against the nationals employed in the host countries. The ATCA was resurrected in the 1990s by US labor attorneys and human rights groups, specifying labor infractions and human rights violations, including murder. Of all these cases, only one has resulted in a victory for labor and its lawyers--- and that was settled prior to a trial. Union Oil Co. of California agreed in 2004 to pay $500 million to Myanmar workers forced by that country’s dictator to work on Unocal’s pipeline.
The first ATCA case to go to a jury trial---unless either side settles---is the Colombia labor union case against the Colombia subsidiary of Drummond Coal. Co. of Alabama. US Judge Karon O. Bowdre insists on a July 9, 2007 start date in Birmingham, Alabama, Drummond’s corporate office. Drummond faces an avalanche of circumstantial evidence that top management of Drummond “aided and abetted” right wing paramilitary in the Colombia murders in 2001.
The US Congress is now focusing on Colombia and the Drummond case, in particular, as it considers legislation concerning economics, trade, and aid to that US ally in northwest South America, located strategically near Venezuela and also mired in an interminable civil war. Chiquita Banana’s recent scandal added fuel to the fire jeopardizing the FTA (Free Trade Agreement) between US Congress and Colombia. Chiquita, based in Ohio, recently admitted paying off right wing paramilitary as well as their arch-enemy, the left-wing communist insurgents, in Colombia, prompting a closer look into the activities of US corporations in Colombia vis a vis US-designated terrorist groups.
Plan Colombia---the multi-billion dollar US drug war package---is also due for renewal and facing intense scrutiny by Congress due to the countless number of trade unionists intimidated, threatened , and murdered in Colombia. In addition to the murders of Drummond workers Valmore Locarno, Victor Hugo Orcasita, and Gustavo Soler in 2001, according to the AFL-CIO, in the last 16 years, 2,262 Colombia unionists have been slain with only 30 convictions.
A pair of Washington, DC attorneys are leading the courtroom charge for their respective sides in “The Drummond Three” killings.
Terry Collingsworth of the International Labor Relief Fund states that the ATCA lawsuits permit some semblance of justice for human rights abuses---abuses which he says receive impunity in the host countries.
William Jeffress, Jr., the Drummond lead lawyer, says labor is mis-using the ATCA.
A member of James Baker’s law firm, Baker Botts, Jeffress calls the allegations against Drummond, “lies…miserable lies.” Jeffress says if Drummond loses in Birmingham, he anticipates an appeal to the US Supreme Court for a definitive ruling on the constitutionality of the ATCA.
(Stephen Flanagan Jackson is professor at Stillman College, Tuscaloosa, Alabama and editor of LatinAmericanPost.com. Contact sfjackson10@hotmail.com).
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