Drummond
Drummond Coal ordered murders, says convicted paramilitary
Eight years after the murders of two trade unionist leaders, Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Orcasita Amaya, the Colombian judiciary has handed down the first convictions for their killers.
Drummond Co.'s winning verdict over families of slain Colombian labor leaders appealed to 11th Circuit of Appeals in Atlanta
Drummond Co.'s July legal victory over accusations it ordered the murders of three Colombian labor leaders has been appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.Drummond coal gets away with murder in Colombia
Reprinted from FightBackNews.org
By Chapin Gray
Birmingham, AL - On July 26, Drummond Co., a Birmingham-based coal company, was found 'not liable' in the deaths Colombian trade unionists Valmore Locarno and Victor Orcasita - the head of a union local and his deputy - as well as the next union president Gustavo
Soler. The three leaders of the Sintamienergética miners union worked at the Drummond’s La Loma mine in northern Colombia. They were tortured and murdered in 2001.
From Alabama to Colombia: Coal company faces war crimes charge
Reprinted from Workers.org
By Minnie Bruce Pratt
Birmingham, Ala.
Published Aug 2, 2007 1:01 AM
In a blow against transnational exploitation of workers and for North-South worker solidarity, Drummond, an Alabama-based coal company, was put on trial in federal court here, charged with the murder of labor union organizers at its mines in Colombia.
In 2001 Valmore Lacarno Rodríguez and Víctor Hugo Orcasita Amaya were murdered by a group of men, some wearing military uniforms. Lacarno and Orcasita were president and vice-president of the union representing 3,000 miners, SINTRAMIENERGETICA. Shortly thereafter Gustavo Soler was murdered when he became union president.
Birmingham protest: "Who is a terrorist? Drummond is a terrorist!"
Birmingham, AL - "Who is a terrorist? Drummond is a terrorist!" rang through downtown here, July 9 as members of Students for a Democratic Society at Tuscaloosa and Birmingham peace activists marched towards the Federal Courthouse to demand justice for the three Colombian trade unionists murdered in 2001 and 2002.
Drummond, an Alabama-based coal company, is being charged with arranging the murders to halt unionizing efforts in its La Loma plant in Northern Colombia. Initially the corporation faced both wrongful death and war crimes charges, but the former charge was thrown out by Bush-appointed judge Karon Bowdre.
