Twelve U.S. House Members Ask Colombian Vice President to Secure Testimony in Drummond Case

[Omaha Steve]

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News From USW: Twelve U.S. House Members Ask Colombian Vice President to Secure Testimony in Drummond Case

Key Witness to Allegations That Drummond Paid Paramilitaries to Kill Trade Unionists Must Be Deposed in Colombia

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

News From USW: A dozen U.S. House members, fully a third of them subcommittee chairmen, today petitioned the vice president of Colombia to keep his promise to the United Steelworkers and expedite taking testimony from a key witness in a civil case in which Alabama-based Drummond Co. is accused of paying Colombian paramilitaries to assassinate three trade unionists.

That trial began July 9 in Birmingham, Ala., and the judge has ruled that the hearing will proceed without testimony by the key witness, Rafael Garcia, who is in prison in Colombia, unless the government of Columbia quickly assures the court that arrangements will be made for Mr. Garcia’s deposition.

“You personally promised the United Steelworkers (USW) that you would help expedite those Letters Rogatory so that the critical testimony of Rafael Garcia could be heard by the civil court in Alabama as well as by law enforcement authorities in the U.S.,” the lawmakers wrote to Francisco Santos, vice president of the Republic of Colombia.

To get testimony from a foreign witness, lawyers first ask the judge to petition the state department. The state department then sends Letters Rogatory to the country where the witness lives seeking permission for a deposition to be taken there.

Earlier this year, when Mr. Santos was in Washington, D.C., he promised a USW attorney that he would personally intercede to accelerate the approval process. The USW filed the case against Drummond, seeking damages for the survivors of the three trade unionists killed in 2001. All three had been employed at a huge mine Drummond operates in Colombia.

The government of Colombia to this point has not responded to the request to take testimony, in person, from Mr. Garcia. The USW became involved in the case because officials from its international office happened to be in Colombia aiding trade unionists at the time the first two Drummond workers were murdered.

The USW is the largest industrial union in the United States, representing more than 850,000 workers in the United States and Canada.

(A copy of the letter from the members of Congress is available in the Multimedia URL mentioned in this news release.)