Behind closed doors, Uribe spoke about how he brought prosperity and peace to the Colombian people by combating violent militias. The opposite is in fact true. Uribe supported right-wing militia groups connected to the Colombian military and which were also partially funded by U.S. corporations like Drummond Coal, Chiquita Banana and Coca-Cola. The so-called AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia) terrorize the countryside, carrying out gruesome attacks against poor farmers and driving them off their land. Colombia now has the largest displaced population in the world, more than even Iraq, where the U.S. occupation is wreaking havoc. Over 4 million rural Colombians are crowding into towns and cities with no work and few prospects. Many Colombian farmers are fleeing over the borders into neighboring countries like Venezuela.

In addition, Uribe left office on the heels of the ‘false positives, scandal, where dozens of Colombian military officers were caught kidnapping low-income young men from the cities, executing them in the countryside and claiming they were members of the powerful Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group killed in combat. The current President Santos was Uribe’s Minister of Defense overseeing the military officers who carried out the systematic murders of close to 3000 civilians.

Outside Zion Bank’s conference, student protester Emily Lacock explained, “Uribe deserves to know that people recognize his crimes and will not silence their outrage.” While passing out flyers detailing Uribe's criminal record, the protesters chanted, “Plan Colombia is a scam! Death squads sent by Uncle Sam!”

“I think it’s atrocious that the U.S. can masquerade Uribe as a 'hero',” said protester Kristen Lambert. Kristen continued, “During Uribe’s presidency, Colombia’s human rights record was the worst in our hemisphere and people suffered more overwhelming poverty while he supposedly improved the economy.”

The sharp divisions in the U.S. were felt on the street that day. As bankers rushed into the Marriott Hotel to hear Uribe's lies, many of the hotel's staff took an interest in the activities on the outside. There were local construction workers and carpenters’ union members who stopped to chat about the situation in Colombia. The union workers were upset to hear how their Colombian counterparts were being murdered at a rate of one a week.

The Revolutionary Students Union (RSU), affiliated with the Students for a Democratic Society, organized the protest as part of the movement against U.S. intervention and war in Colombia. A RSU leader said, “Even in Utah, Uribe will be held accountable for waging a dirty war against the poor farmers and working people of Colombia. We oppose the U.S.-led counter-insurgency war and say no to the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. By speaking out against America's lackeys like Uribe, we cut through the deafening silence that holds so many captive while expressing the solidarity with those who are facing the brunt force of the U.S. empire.”

#SaltLakeCityUT #AntiwarMovement #Colombia #Uribe #CocaCola #AlvaroUribe #Drummond #ChiquitaBrands #AutodefensasUnidasDeColombia #AUC #RevolutionaryStudentUnion #deathSquads #Americas

According to family representatives, the AUC was used to assassinate their husbands, wives and children, who were apparently interfering with Chiquita’s financial interests. In the last ten years, more than 10,000 people have been murdered by the AUC, many of them in the banana zones where Chiquita financed the AUC’s operations.

“This is a landmark case, maybe the biggest terrorism case in history,” said Terry Collingsworth, who directs the litigation. “In terms of casualties, its the size of three World Trade Center attacks.” Collingsworth is already known in Colombia for his lawsuits against Coca Cola, Drummond and Nestle for the targeted killings of union leaders by the AUC.

The case began with an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which filed criminal charges in March of this year. Chiquita not only admitted the truth of the charges, but agreed to cooperate in the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation. Although Chiquita got off with a slap on the wrist – a $25 million fine and no jail time for executives – their admissions set the stage for a multi-billion dollar lawsuit.

“Chiquita’s victims are living in dire poverty,” said Paul Wolf, co-counsel in the case. Wolf spent the month of May speaking to victims’ groups in shanty towns where families seek refuge from the death squads, which continue to murder anyone perceived as an enemy. “Reparations can’t bring back the dead, but there are a lot of widows and orphans with no means of support. Most of them have fled their homes and don’t know where their next meal will come from,” observed Wolf.

As word of the lawsuit spreads, the number of families joining it has skyrocketed. “Putting Chiquita on trial for hundreds, or even thousands of murders could put them out of business. I guess this is the one scenario where I would support the death penalty – the death of a truly evil corporation,” said Collingsworth, remarking on Chiquita’s 100-year history in Colombia.

#WashingtonDC #InJusticeSystem #News #Colombia #WorkersAndGlobalization #Drummond #ChiquitaBrands #AutodefensasUnidasDeColombia #paramilitary #Americas

The miners union and the International Labor Relief Fund filed a civil suit against Drummond in 2002. Despite the court case, even more Drummond workers have since been threatened and murdered by paramilitaries. The civil suit was going to start on July 9 in Birmingham, Alabama. But on June 20 Bush-appointed judge Karen Bowdry ruled that Drummond will not have to stand trial on ‘wrongful death’ charges, even though there are numerous Colombian citizens willing to testify that Drummond paid right-wing death squads to kill union organizers. “Drummond, which made $2 billion last year strip mining coal in Colombia, is an Alabama firm, owned by Republicans, being tried in a Republican court,” explains Birmingham community activist Reverend Jack Zylman.

At the trial multiple witnesses were scheduled to testify that Drummond made regular payments to the U.S. government-sponsored death squads, and a paramilitary officer was going to testify to being hired to ‘neutralize’ union leadership.

Peace and student groups are organizing a demonstration for what would have been first day of the trial on July 9 at the federal courts building in Birmingham. This case brings further national and international attention to the crimes of U.S. corporations in Colombia and to the role of U.S. sponsored death squads. Chapin Gray of Tuscaloosa Students for a Democratic Society explains, “Corporations should not be allowed to literally get away with murder. Period. When Colombians try to improve their working conditions, they are killed so that big corporations like Drummond can continue raking-in high profits. We want to bring attention to these charges so that more people will realize what is going on, will see the ties between the U.S. government, the Uribe administration and the paramilitaries, and to demand that those ties be severed. We want Drummond to know that we’re watching them. We want justice.”

U.S. Aid Funds Colombian Death Squads

“Colombia is a country dominated by U.S. economic and political interests. There is growing U.S. intervention with soldiers on the ground engaged in combat, and $5 billion given to Colombia since 2000. The U.S. is running Colombia for the benefit of corporations. Worker after worker and peasant after peasant told the Colombia Action Network delegation that U.S. military aid goes straight into the hands of U.S. government-sponsored death squads that terrorize their communities,” said Meredith Aby of the Colombia Action Network.

Colombia receives more U.S. military aid than any other country outside of the Middle East. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Colombia Action Network delegations have documented that the right-wing Colombian government uses U.S. tax dollars to kill and threaten trade unionists, human rights workers, and campesinos (peasants) who organize against the U.S.’s free trade agenda.

As a result Colombia is the most dangerous place to be a trade union activist in the world. U.S. corporations like Coca-Cola, Chiquita, Drummond and Occidental Oil hire paramilitaries to target trade unionists in order to kill union organizing and negotiating efforts. This corporate-death squad link has come under increasing scrutiny recently. Since 2002, the Colombian Action Network has been leading a boycott of Coca-Cola products for Coca-Cola’s collusion with death squads and the murders of eight trade unionists. Campuses across the country have been ending their contracts with ‘Killer Coke.’ This spring, Chiquita pled guilty to arming and funding paramilitaries in Colombia.

The ruling comes at an important time. The Bush administration and Colombia’s President Uribe want the U.S. to pass a new free trade agreement. Drummond has laid off 1700 U.S. miners who earned $18 an hour and moved their operations to Colombia. In comparison, Colombian miners earn an hourly wage of $2.45, receive no other benefits, and are threatened, kidnapped and murdered by paramilitaries for union organizing. Passage of this free trade agreement would only further hurt workers in both countries.

Despite the increasing publicity of the atrocities that the Colombian government really does with U.S. support, President Bush has requested $600 million more in military aid for Colombia. However, Congress is currently debating whether to discontinue U.S. military aid. “Drummond’s crimes give us the opportunity to make the impact of U.S.-sponsored death squads real to the American public and to Congress,” explained Aby. “Trade unionists and peace activists should come demonstrate in support of the workers in Colombia and to protest the judge’s unjust ruling.”

#BirminghamAL #InJusticeSystem #News #Colombia #WorkersAndGlobalization #Drummond #InternationalLaborReliefFund #Sintramienergetica