Arrest made in murders of union activists at Colombian mine owned by Alabama coal company
The brother of the former Inspector General of Colombia has been arrested in connection with the murder of two union activists working for Drummond, a multinational coal company based in Birmingham, Ala.
Jaime Blanco Maya allegedly ordered the killing of labor rights activists Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Orcasita Amaya in Colombia in 2001, according to Colombia Reports. The arrest was ordered by a human rights prosecutor in Bogota who is investigating the killings.
Blanco Maya was working as a Drummond contractor at the time the unionists were killed, the Latin American Herald Tribune reports. The crimes occurred during a 2001 incident in which a bus carrying several dozen workers from Drummond's La Loma mine was stopped by 15 gunmen -- some wearing Colombian military uniforms -- who forced off the two leaders of the Sintramienergetica union local.
Locarno, the local's president, was shot on the spot. The tortured body of Orcasita, the local's vice president, was found a few days later. Gustavo Soler, the man who succeeded Locarno as president, was also murdered not long after taking office.
It was later found that the killings were carried out by members of the AUC federation of right-wing militias, which disbanded in 2006 as part of a peace process with the Colombian government.
Drummond has prevailed in three lawsuits over alleged human rights abuses at its operations in Colombia. The most recent suit was filed last June and alleged that Drummond paid millions of dollars to a Colombian paramilitary group responsible for the deaths of 67 people in an effort to disrupt union activities at the company's South American mine and railway operations.
In November, a federal district court in Birmingham dismissed that suit, which was backed by the United Steelworkers. Drummond said at the time [pdf] that it "welcome[d] this latest vindication in what is now a seven-year effort by the unions and their supporters to bring false and unfounded claims that the companies have collaborated with paramilitaries in acts of violence against union leaders and others."
In June of this year, Drummond reached a three-year collective bargaining agreement [pdf] with the unions at its Colombian operations. The agreement came after a protracted battle that involved the company firing the entire executive board of a Sintramienergetica local and an effort by Drummond to fire some 4,000 unionized workers in retaliation for a work stoppage at one of its Colombian mines.
Jaime Blanco Maya allegedly ordered the killing of labor rights activists Valmore Locarno Rodriguez and Victor Hugo Orcasita Amaya in Colombia in 2001, according to Colombia Reports. The arrest was ordered by a human rights prosecutor in Bogota who is investigating the killings.
Blanco Maya was working as a Drummond contractor at the time the unionists were killed, the Latin American Herald Tribune reports. The crimes occurred during a 2001 incident in which a bus carrying several dozen workers from Drummond's La Loma mine was stopped by 15 gunmen -- some wearing Colombian military uniforms -- who forced off the two leaders of the Sintramienergetica union local.
Locarno, the local's president, was shot on the spot. The tortured body of Orcasita, the local's vice president, was found a few days later. Gustavo Soler, the man who succeeded Locarno as president, was also murdered not long after taking office.
It was later found that the killings were carried out by members of the AUC federation of right-wing militias, which disbanded in 2006 as part of a peace process with the Colombian government.
Drummond has prevailed in three lawsuits over alleged human rights abuses at its operations in Colombia. The most recent suit was filed last June and alleged that Drummond paid millions of dollars to a Colombian paramilitary group responsible for the deaths of 67 people in an effort to disrupt union activities at the company's South American mine and railway operations.
In November, a federal district court in Birmingham dismissed that suit, which was backed by the United Steelworkers. Drummond said at the time [pdf] that it "welcome[d] this latest vindication in what is now a seven-year effort by the unions and their supporters to bring false and unfounded claims that the companies have collaborated with paramilitaries in acts of violence against union leaders and others."
In June of this year, Drummond reached a three-year collective bargaining agreement [pdf] with the unions at its Colombian operations. The agreement came after a protracted battle that involved the company firing the entire executive board of a Sintramienergetica local and an effort by Drummond to fire some 4,000 unionized workers in retaliation for a work stoppage at one of its Colombian mines.
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.