Murder in Colombia and a U.S. multinational

That's why it is significant that a judge in Colombia has asked the attorney general to launch a criminal investigation of top executives at Alabama-based Drummond Co., a multinational coal company. At issue is whether Drummond executives collaborated with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC in Spanish), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, to murder union leaders organizing the Drummond coal mine in La Loma in 2001. Relatives of three slain men, Valmore Locarno, Victor Orcasita and Gustavo Soler, sued Drummond in Birmingham and lost -- proof, the company says, of its innocence. But new evidence has emerged: In sworn affidavits, ex-paramilitary soldiers are naming top Drummond executives as having requisitioned and paid for two of the murders. The company says those allegations are false.

On the basis of the new information, another wrongful-death suit was brought against the company in May in Birmingham. But a civil action in the United States is no substitute for a criminal investigation in Colombia. The perilous environment for workers there exists not only because of the violence they face but the historical impunity of their attackers.

U.S. and European labor leaders are watching this case closely and pointing to it as an example of why they object to the United States' proposed free-trade agreement with Colombia: If Colombian workers can't freely unionize, there's no level playing field between the countries. We continue to support ratification of the agreement. But we see this as an opportunity for Colombia to demonstrate that its judicial system can investigate low-level wiseguys and a giant multinational as well.