Trial begins for Alabama coal company accused of human rights abuses in Colombia

In a civil trial set to open today in a federal courtroom in Birmingham, a jury will hear evidence that an executive with an Alabama-based coal company paid a right-wing paramilitary unit to kill union leaders who were organizing mine workers in Colombia.

The suit was sparked by a 2001 incident in which a bus carrying several dozen workers from the Drummond Company's La Loma coal mine was stopped by 15 gunmen -- some in Colombian military uniforms -- who forced off two union leaders. The gunmen shot union local president Valmore Locarno Rodriguez in the head and kidnapped deputy Victor Hugo Orcasita, who was tortured and killed.

Lawyers representing the Sintramienergetica union has presented affidavits from two people who say they were present when Drummond's chief executive in Colombia, Augusto Jimenez, handed over $200,000 in cash to associates of the local right-wing paramilitary leader, the Associated Press reports. Jimenez has since resigned.

Drummond's largest U.S. customer for Colombia coal is the Atlanta-based Southern Co., according to the Web site Drummond Watch. Drummond began relocating its mining operations from Alabama to the civil war-torn South American company in 1994.

The suit (PDF) was filed in 2002 under the Alien Tort Claims Act, Torture Victim Protection Act and state tort law. It alleges that Drummond "hired, contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced" leaders of the union representing workers at Drummond facilities in Colombia. The murders occurred while contract negotiations with Drummond were underway.

The incident was also the topic of a June 28 congressional hearing held by the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight chaired by Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), who said in a statement:

"If we are a nation that respects the rule of law, we cannot countenance injustice, no matter where it occurs, or who commits it. If American investors and companies have played a role -- even an unwilling one -- in Colombia's violence, we can't look the other way."

Drummond has repeatedly denied the charges. In a statement (PDF) released in response to the congressional hearing, it called the allegations "completely without merit" and said they had "no basis in facts."

Among those scheduled to testify at the trial is Garry Neil Drummond, a former University of Alabama trustee and president of the company founded by his father in 1935, the Birmingham News reports.

Here in the United States, Drummond and other members of his family exercise considerable political clout: In the past year alone, they have donated more than $19,000 to the Republican National Committee, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' contribution database.