CSN News

JOURNALISTÊ GOES TOÊ US APPEALS COURT

ONÊ FIRST AMENDMENT PETITION TO UNSEAL DOCUMENTS

IN 3 UNION MURDERS AT DRUMMOND?S COLOMBIA COAL MINES

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ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ By Stephen Flanagan Jackson

ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ (copyright- 2007)

ÊÊÊÊ BOGOTA,COLOMBIA--- Fernando Leyva, publisher of LatinAmericanPost.com, said today he encouraged editor Stephen Flanagan Jackson to file in US Federal
Court an appeal of theÊ US judge?s denial of his---and the media?s and the public?s--- First Amendment rights in covering the long-running civil murders case of three slain Colombian union leaders brutally executed near the Drummond coal mines in La Loma, Colombia in 2001. The civil case has been inÊ a US court since March, 2002 under the obscure Alien Torts Claim Act of 1789.Ê Coca-Cola, Del Monte, Unocal and other multinationals are being called to task by international labor under the almost-forgotten lawÊ which allows foreigners to sue private US citizens or corporations for alleged wrongdoings (a tort) abroad.

ÊÊÊÊ ÊJackson?s First Amendment hearing is set for Feb. 1 in Montgomery,Ê Ala. at the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Presiding judges are William Pryor, Edward Carnes, and Jerome Farris.

Ê ?I am the only Gringo journalist to have a copy of these sealed documents,? said Jackson, referring to a Colombian?s deposition and also to the depostion of Garry N. Drummond, CEO and head of Drummond Coal Co. Jackson?sÊ lawyer, Barry Ragsdale, filed the appeal after the judge denied an earlier request by Jackson to unseal the documents which reveal the sworn-to testimonyÊ of a Colombia eye witness to a $200,000 payoffÊ from Drummond?s top man in Bogota, Augusta Jiminez, to paramilitary hitmen in order ?to kill trade union leaders? at Drummond?s La Loma coal mines. TheÊÊ massive mountain of sealed documents also reveal the extent and details of Drummond?s alleged influence of the US State Department and the US Justice Department to have the Drummond civil murders case dropped due to the possibility of sensitive, secretÊ relations between the US and Colombia governments being made known.Ê Mr. Drummond, a University of Alabama trustee emeritus and a member of the US Business School Hall of Fame, testifies about paying a halfÊ million dollars in ?stipends? to the Colombia police and military for protection of the Drummond mines and port.

Ê Jackson?s motion to open documents was denied in FederalÊ Court in Birmingham where previously the judge slapped aÊ?SINTRAMIENERGETICA? lawyer with a $500 fine for contempt because he introduced the payoffÊ witness?s document into open court May 16. Federal judge Karon O. Bowdre, incensed that the Colombian labor union lawyer, Daniel Kovalik,Ê had the temerity to enter theÊ volatile documents, ordered them sealed at the request of Drummond lawyers on May 17. The judge denied a Jackson motion to unseal the documents, thus prompting Jackson?s date for oral argument in federal appeals court.
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In denying Jackson?s original motion to unseal the documents, the judge said, ?This caseÊ (should) not be tried in the media, but instead be tried in the courtroom?.? She said the sealed documents with the bombshell revelations should not have been filed and was a ?gratuitous filing?designed to inflame the media and public opinion??Ê The judge added, in denying Jackson?s FirstÊAmendment appeal to open the documents, ??sealing these documents is not designed to be a prior restraint on the publication of any materials by the press. However, the court encourages judicious action that is mindful of the firestorm that could result from widespread publication of these unexamined statements by a witness who is in prison in a foreign country and therefore not readily available for direct questioning.?

Ê The judge is referring to theÊ ?Colombia Canary,? former DAS officer Rafael GarciaÊ who is in Carcel Picota, aÊ prison south of Bogota, on charges of money laundering and computer manipulation of DAS data. Garcia has recently been singing a tune of corruption in the Colombian government, including relations with the USÊ Drug Enforcement Administration,Ê and voting fraud charges against Colombian President Uribe, a landslide winner in the May Colombia election. Based on Garcia?s testimony, a number of former DAS officials have been indicted by the Colombian government. DAS is the Spanish acronym for Department of Administrative Security, Colombia?s equivalent to the FBI.

ÊÊÊÊ ?We are under constant threats from the paramilitary and ?sicarios? (hired assassins) while Drummond has the Colombian army---backed by US funds---guarding its La Loma facilities and we (union members) are left to fend for ourselves,? charges Omar Estupinan, a SINTRAMIENERGETICA union local president at La Loma. EstupinanÊ fled his hometown for temporary sanctuary in Bogota, the capital city.ÊÊÊ

ÊÊÊÊ Three previous ColombiaÊ union leaders---Gustavo Soler, Valmore Locarno, and Victor Hugo Orcasita--- were brutally assassinated near the Drummond mines in 2001. No charges have been filed in Colombia, but Drummond faces a controversial civil wrongful deaths case meandering turtle-slow in US Federal Court in Birmingham, Ala. Jury selection---if the judge does not issue a dismissal at a February hearing---is expected in May, 2007 in the case filed by the Colombia union?s lawyers of the United Steelworkers in Pittsburgh andÊ the International Relief Fund in Washington, DC.

ÊÊÊÊÊÊ Other documents sealed by the US judge---a Bush appointee---reveal efforts by Drummond to influence the US State and Justice Departments to dismiss the case on grounds that US national security would be compromised by information related to the trial.Ê Sources indicate that the US State Department has, indeed, sent a letter to the judge regarding the Drummond civil murders case.

ÊÊ ÊÊDrummond Co. has consistently stated that the allegations of its complicity in the murders are false. ?The charges are lies?damnable lies,? commented William Jeffress, Jr., a Drummond attorney with Baker Botts of Washington, DC, previous to the judge?s first gag order in 2004.

Ê In a recent speech on an unrelated matterÊ in Colombia, PresidentÊ Alvaro Uribe maintains passport records show that Drummond?s Jiminez was out of Colombia at the time Garcia claims to have been in theÊ payoff meeting with Jiminez and the paramilitary. Uribe never produced conclusive evidence to support this claim about Jiminez

Drummond?s lawyers have rolled out the ?political question? doctrine and the ?international comity? doctrine in a last ditch effort to quash the homicide charges and stop the civil case, maintaining a trial presents the possibility of compromising US national security issues.Ê The US has officially declared the left-wing guerrilla and the right-wing paramilitary as ?terrorists?---bothÊ Colombia groups active around the Drummond mines.

ÊÊ ?Judge Bowdre?s order has a chilling effect by cutting me off from my sources, potential sources, and information about this case,? says Jackson, also a journalism professor at Stillman College. Ê?The judge?s order is a violation of my First Amendment rights as a journalist, of the media?s First Amendment rights, and the general public?s First Amendment rights---which include the right-to-know.

ÊÊÊÊ ?The judge is throwing a shroud over this case,? says Jackson.Ê ?Mr. Ragsdale, my lawyer, and I are not threatening Drummond?s Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial.

ÊÊÊÊÊ ? We are looking out for the First Amendment right to monitor the administration of justice without any undue restrictions on the monitoring and without regards to the manner and style in which the information in communicated.

ÊÊÊÊ ?To paraphrase Mark Twain, you can always find 12 ignoramuses in Alabama who do not read the newspapers or watch the news on TV,? remarks Jackson. ?This plethora of sealed documents could possibly reveal violations of the Leahy Amendment which regulates the use of US funds in Plan Colombia,? adds Jackson.Ê ?This is also a case of massive human rights violations. Three people were murdered some six years ago!?

ÊÊÊÊ Drummond ships coal from its lucrative Colombia mine all over the world, including to one of its biggest customers---Israel.Ê Domestically, the Southern Company---parent of Alabama Power---Ê receivesÊ Colombia coal shipments through the Port ofÊ Mobile to burn in its electric-generating plants all over the Southeast.

Ê(Note:Ê PermissionÊ to use/ Your support is appreciated/Contact Jackson at 205Ê366-8858 or sfjackson10@hotmail.com. For further reference go to PACERS for US District Court case No. CV-03-BE-0575-W)

ÊÊÊÊ(Contact Jackson at sfjackson10@hotmail.com or 205Ê 366-8858)

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