Drummond executive arrested over paramilitary murder charges

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Colombia Reports

May 26, 2015

Drummond executive arrested over paramilitary murder charges
posted by Emma Rosser

A Colombian executive of US-based coal company Drummond has been arrested after being charged with the killing of two labor union leaders, The Associated Press reported on Monday.

Alfredo Araujo, the former Head of Industrial Relations for the Alabama-based coal miners has been charged with the murder of two trade union activists lowered from a bus and shot in 2001.

Valmore Locarno and Victor Hugo Orcasita, respectively the president and vice president of the Sintramienergetica trade union, were stopped by members of paramilitary group AUC while travelling near Valledupar, a city in the Caribbean region of Colombia.

Claims allege that Locarno was killed on site and Orcasita was forced into a van. His body was later found on the side of the road.

Read more: http://colombiareports.com/drummond-executive-arrested-over-paramilitary-murder-charges/

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(My emphasis.)

[center]



Garry Drummond, the owner of Drummond Company Inc.,
with former Colombian President Alvaro [/center]
Drummond, from Sourcewatch:

Conflict in Colombia

The Drummond Company has been the subject of numerous lawsuits regarding the murders of 70 union miners and railroad workers, collectively.[5][6][7] The murdered Colombians were killed by the notorious paramilitary group, United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), which had been hired by Drummond to act as security.[6] In addition to those killed, a lawsuit against Drummond describes "how hundreds of men, women, and children were terrorized in their homes, on their way to and from work… innocent people killed in or near their homes or kidnapped to never to return home, their spouses and children being beaten and tied up, and people being pulled off buses and summarily executed on the spot."[6]

WikiLeaks cables regarding paramilitary forces

According to U.S. diplomatic cables sent between 2006-2010 and released by WikiLeaks, Drummond paid paramilitaries for protection of its Colombian operations. An October 2006 cable said there were significant security improvements in the northeastern region of Colombia where Drummond operates due to private security operations in the area, including roving patrols along the company's railroad from their La Loma mine to the port in Santa Marta. The cable went on to say that these private security guards were former paramilitaries. Over the course of four years U.S. Embassy officials sent 15 diplomatic cables to Washington which expressed concern over the company's labor disputes, lax environmental practices and apparent links with paramilitary death squads.[8]

A federal Court in Alabama began a civil case against Drummond in 2010 for the alleged paramilitary links, in a case that is still underway. Victims of paramilitary violence in Colombia accuse Drummond of paying the paramilitary organization United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) between 1999 and 2005, during which time 116 civilians were murdered in the region where the coal company operates, allegedly by the right-wing militia. The civil case also seeks compensation for the relatives of several people who were murdered, which they claim was for refusing to sell their land to to make way for the company's railroad.[8]

Coverup of coal barge sinking

The crew of a barge owned by the Drummond Company dumped 2,000 tonnes of coal into the ocean in an unsuccessful bid to avoid the barge sinking. Drummond did not report the sinking to Colombian environmental authorities until 17 days after the accident, even though its environmental licence required the company to report such an event within a maximum of three days. Director of the Colombian Environmental Licensing Agency (ANLA), Luz Helena Sarmiento, accused Drummond of covering the accident up. Drummond claimed the coal was dumped overboard to save lives but Sarmiento said that the company's licence did not allow it to dump into the ocean to save the barge.[9] In 2011 Drummond exported approximately 25 million tons of coal from its mines near La Loma through Puerto Drummond.[10]

More:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Drummond

[jwirr]

1. Obviously globlization is not working so well there. Former American companies are still killing

labor activists. I wonder how far into this the owners were.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Probably, like Nixon, they want to make sure ""our hand doesn't show on this one though."

"Plausible deniability." ETC.

They created a monstrous history for themselves right in Alabama, before jumping ship, moving the operations to Colombia to get cheaper workers, then sending the coal back to Alabama, which previous employees take as a slap in the face. Of course, that's easier to accept than torture and murder, which got handed out in Colombia.

Here's one post from an older DU thread, with a lot to see on the Drummond Company, LTD.:

From Alabama to Colombia - Drummond's "Trail of Tears"


~snip~
The company is importing at least 4 million tons of Colombian coal to Alabama power plants this year. Drummond signed a five-year deal with Alabama Power Co. to ship 3.5 million tons of Colombian coal to a power plant near Mobile. It also provides coal to Alabama Electric Cooperative and a Florida power company.

"By laying off so many Alabama miners, the company sucked the lifeblood out of our region," said District 20 president John Stewart. "Drummond didn't tell us it was closing our mines and moving to Colombia. Alabama has more than 200 years of coal reserves left. We felt betrayed," he lamented. "Drummond failed to honor its verbal statement to the UMWA never to ship Colombian coal to Alabama. It was bad enough to take away our jobs after making money off our backs," he added, "but to send us coal mined with slave labor is really disgraceful. Drummond also promised to help the miners it displaced, but it did practically nothing."

"This is a classic case of a greedy coal baron who forgot the miners who helped make him prosper," observed L.U. 1948 president John Nolen of Jasper, Ala. The 26-year miner was laid off by Drummond twice prior to his current job at Shoal Creek.
(snip)

Even without the ongoing violence, Colombian miners face "some of the world's most dangerous working conditions," according to In These Times.com. An April 27 blast at the Cava Brava mine killed 15 miners, and another explosion in October 1997 buried 16 coal miners alive in El Diviso mine.

When union activists Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Orcasita boarded a company-chartered bus after leaving work at Drummond's La Loma coal mine in Colombia, they didn't realize it was their last ride. The local's president and vice president were pulled from the bus and executed by gunmen, some wearing military uniforms, in front of their fellow miners.
(snip)

http://www.umwa.org/journal/VOL112NO4/july3.shtml

Older thread:
Drummond denies colluding with far-right death squads to kill Colombia unionists
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2777749

Also, gotta mention, Drummonds are BIG Republican contributors, of course.

[jwirr]

3. Same old same old. You know I am not at all surprised that we are fighting another trade

agreement that once again give the multinational corporations more power. We have learned nothing in the last 30+ years.

When I read this stuff I just get a sick feeling - we are part of it even if we do not want to be.

[duhneece]

5. Around the world, this happens, we don't hear about it

..and there are few consequences beyond a slap on the wrist. The courage of these labor activists and their murders should be more important than a football or the myriad of crap we hear about.
thanks for the post, for caring

[enough]

4. k&r (nt)

[Judi Lynn]

6. Mining Executive Arrested over Two Union Deaths in Colombia

Mining Executive Arrested over Two Union Deaths in Colombia

Published 28 May 2015 (4 hours 17 minutes ago)

The official’s name was quoted by paramilitary members linked to the murders.

Alfredo Araújo Castro, former executive of the U.S.-based mining company Drummond, has been arrested over the alleged 2001 murder of two union leaders.

Araujo Castro lead the public relations department of the company, when the president and vice-president of worker's union Sintramienergética, Valmore Locarno Rodríguez and Víctor Hugo Orcasita, were killed by paramilitary members of the North Block of the United Self-Defense Forces on March 12, 2001.

At the time of their deaths, the union leaders had been involved in a complaint against Drummond over the quality of the food served to the miners.

More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Mining-Executive-Arrested-over-Two-Union-Deaths-in-Colombia-20150528-0046.html