Colombian Trade Unionists Assassinated by Paramilitaries Paid by American Companies, Congress Told

Filed under: General — shadow @ 11:01 am

Colombian Trade Unionists Assassinated by Paramilitaries Paid by American Companies, Congress Told
Human Rights Specialist, Colombian Mine Union Official, Former Military Officer and USW Lawyer Testify to Abuses

For Immediate Release June 28, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. Witnesses ranging from a former Colombian military officer to an American human rights expert testified before Congress today that paramilitary groups are murdering trade unionists in Colombia at a rate unparalleled in the world and on the dime of multinational corporations based in the United States.

Francisco Ramirez Cuellar, president of Sintraminercol, the Colombian mine workers union, and author of, The Profits of Extermination, How U.S. Corporate Power is Destroying Colombia, told the Congressmen there is proof that Drummond Ltd., the Colombian subsidiary of Alabama-based Drummond Co., Inc., paid paramilitaries to kill three union officials at Drummond. And, he said, several other American companies, including Ohio-based Chiquita Brands International, have been involved in similar practices.