Plaintiffs ask more time in union-deaths suit

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Birmingham News

Plaintiffs ask more time in union-deaths suit
Friday, June 01, 2007RUSSELL HUBBARD
News staff writer

Lawyers suing Drummond Co. in Birmingham on behalf of three slain Colombian coal miners have asked for an extra 180 days to get ready for the wrongful death trial slated to start July 9.

The lawyers representing the families of the dead men, their labor union and international labor rights organizations said in a court filing they have discovered a third last-minute witness who needs time to get ready before he can testify at the trial.

The new witness is Isnardo Gonzalez, a former bodyguard for Alfredo Araujo, a Drummond executive in Colombia. The filing last week said Gonzalez will testify that he saw Araujo visit with militia leaders who were hostile to labor unions and witnessed payments to such groups.

Birmingham-based Drummond, which operates a vast coal mine in Colombia, was sued in U.S. District Court in Birmingham in 2002 for the 2001 murders of the union miners. The civil lawsuit doesn't say who committed the killings, only that Drummond commissioned them.



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Previously:
Thursday, March 22, 2007

Drummond denies colluding with far-right death squads to kill Colombia unionists
TOBY MUSE Associated Press Writer

(AP) - BOGOTA, Colombia-The U.S.-based coal company Drummond Co. Inc. on Thursday denied any relationship with far-right death squads in Colombia and said it has no intention of settling a related U.S. lawsuit.

A federal judge in Alabama this month allowed a civil suit to go forward against Drummond for allegedly paying a hit squad to kill three union leaders at one of its Colombian mines in 2001.

Colombia's chief prosecutor on Tuesday also announced a formal criminal investigation into allegations Drummond, based in Birmingham, Alabama, had tied with the paramilitaries.

"Drummond publicly states that it has not nor will it make any payments, agreements or transactions with illegal groups and emphatically denies that the company or any of its executives has had any involvement with the murder of three labor union leaders," the company said in a statement Thursday in response to the prosecutor's announcement. "It will not settle with the plaintiffs."

Drummond's defense comes as another U.S. multinational, fruit giant Chiquita Brands, has acknowledged funneling US$1.7 million (euro1.3 million) to far-right paramilitary militias in Colombia.

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