Drummond executive arrested over paramilitary murder charges
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.
More:
http://colombiareports.com/drummond-executive-arrested-over-paramilitary-murder-charges/
[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
LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141103365