U.S. firms linked to Colombia militias
WASHINGTON — A former paramilitary soldier told a congressional panel Thursday that several U.S. companies provided financial support to illegal militias accused of killing Colombian civilians.
Edwin Guzman, a former Colombian army sergeant who later became a paramilitary member, testified that his military units were responsible for guarding the property of the Birmingham, Ala.-based Drummond coal company, which has extensive operations in Colombia.
Guzman said that the Colombian military also worked closely with right-wing paramilitary units housed on Drummond premises in a joint effort to protect the company and its coal shipments from leftist guerrillas.
Drummond provided company vehicles, gasoline and other supplies to the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, Guzman said.
It has been illegal for U.S. companies to provide financial assistance to the AUC since September 2001, when the U.S. government designated it as a terrorist organization. But Guzman told members of three House Foreign Affairs Committee panels that protection agreements between the outlawed groups and corporations were commonplace.
"Drummond is not the only company paying for the services of the paramilitaries. There are many other companies that are paying," Guzman said through an interpreter. "I hope the members of the Congress investigate these things further because every time we raise these things in Colombia, they try to erase our testimony any way they can."
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Allegations denied
Drummond has denied the allegations and told lawmakers Thursday that it could not comment on Guzman's allegations due to a pending civil court case that alleges the company was behind the slayings of three union leaders in 2001.
The chairmen of two of the subcommittees, Reps. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) and William D. Delahunt (D-Mass.), said the four-hour hearing was only the first step in what they hope to be an aggressive investigation of whether U.S. corporations were underwriting violence in Colombia by paying protection money to paramilitary groups.
Both lawmakers cited the case of Chiquita Brands International Inc., which recently acknowledged paying nearly $2 million to the AUC and the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to protect the company's banana-growing operations and employees in Colombia. Chiquita agreed to pay $25 million in fines to settle a Justice Department investigation, admitting to doing business with U.S.-designated terrorist organizations. The FARC also is listed as a terrorist group.
