DECLARATION OF THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT OF VICTIMS OF MULTINATIONAL
AND TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS, M.N V.C., WITH RESPECT TO THE
DECISION OF THE FEDERAL COURT OF APPEALS OF THE 11TH CIRCUIT IN
ATLANTA, GEORGIA IN THE UNITED STATES
The M.N.V.C. has received without surprise but with concern the judgment issued
by the Court of Appeals, as one more link in a chain of racist impunity which is
being woven in the United States in favor of war criminals who afflict our
countries, supported in the activities of the multinational corporations which
plunder our natural resources. We are disturbed not only by the crimes against
Afro-Americans in the United States, but also by those against Africans, Arabs
and inhabitants of the south of the continent who are committed to the protection
of “wars against terrorism, wars against drugs and security operations” in favor
of multinational corporations.
The order of the United States State Department to stop the lawsuit against
Occidental Petroleum for the bombardment of Santo Domingo, Arauca, on the
basis of it being “a problem of national security”; the court decision which
returned the case against Chevron-Texaco to the jurisdiction of Ecuador after 14
years of litigation (1); the judgment in favor of Chiquita Brands in spite of a
director’s confession of the 11,127 homicides committed by that company; and
the most recent judgment of the United States Supreme Court in the Kiobel case,
133 Supreme Court 1659 (2013), which severely limits the presentation of new
cases under the protection of the AlienTort Claims Act (ATCA), are very serious
antecedents which indicated the direction in which the decision of the Appellate
Court was to come out, that is to say in favor of the Drummond Ltd., mining
company. Drummond was involved in more than 3,000 homicides, 500 of which
occurred in massacres; 55,000 cases of forced displacement; more than 240 forced
disappearances; and the murder of 161 workers affiliated with the labor unions of
Cesar and Magdalena Departments, 5 of whom were national leaders of Sintramienergetica.
These operations were carried out jointly with the Glencore-Prodeco company.
Adding to these crimes are the 27 deaths of workers in “work accidents” during
the past 20 years; the more than 800 sick workers, some of whom showed more
than 10 different pathologies; the destruction of labor organization by means of
threats, murder, and corrupting of the high courts so that they would rule in favor
of this criminal organization Drummond Ltd. In addition, there have been very
serious social and cultural impacts upon the Afro population, which was made
invisible so it would not have to be consulted in application of Agreement 169 of
the International Labor Organization. Likewise, there have been irreversible
impacts upon the group of marshes, rivers and streams of the zone through
saturation by coal dust; contamination of groundwater; changing the course of
rivers and streams; destruction of the marine fauna and flora in the zones in
which the coal is loaded onto ships in Cienaga-Magdalena. All of this makes
necessary a forcible response to the very serious violations of the Constitution
and national and international laws.
For all of these reasons we reject vehemently the fact that now the spokesmen of
this company have the cynicism to come out and talk of the “innocence” of this
criminal organization, which now initiates a criminal proceeding in the United
States against the lawyers who sued Drummond, after trying to assassinate
Attorney Ramirez Cuellar on three occasions. Now the company pretends to
blame the victims of the crimes committed against their family members by this
company, with the complicit silence of the self-denominated ”authorities” of this
country who did not protect the lives, honor and properties of the associates and
now in a servile act do not investigate the officers of Drummond. They have only
condemned two contractors in a dirty tactic to place the blame upon contractors
and leave untouched the high officials of this criminal organization, besides firing
and transferring prosecutors and investigators who were ordered to investigate
the management of Drummond, when they did not assassinate them, as
happened with 7 investigators of the Attorney General’s office, one woman
prosecutor, and one judge.
Our movement has decided to bring suit outside the country for these actions
and to ask a judge to recognize and call upon international jurisdiction over war
crimes and crimes of lese humanity. We will ask the judge to initiate an
investigation, which is supported by multiple real and convincing supporting
evidence; to give procedural guarantees to those accused of war crimes,
guarantees which were not given by their military-paramilitary forces and
mercenaries to the thousands of innocent, poor and defenseless residents of
Cesar and Magdalena Departments who were murdered by the order and with the
financing of this criminal organization, Drummond. We will ask the court to
condemn those responsible for these actions, taking into account the
nonexistence of justice in Colombia and the United States and the rampant and
racist impunity which exists in these jurisdictions.
Likewise we call for a worldwide campaign to nationalize without compensation
the mines operated by Drummond and Glencore-Prodeco, with the goal of making
full reparations to the victims, to the workers who were fired, to those who are
sick and those who presently are subjected to forced labor in these mines, where
their labor rights are not respected, and they are killed or become sick through
the undignified and risky work they are required to perform, without effective
protection. And our population is obligated to pay wages and benefits to those
workers instead of Drummond Ltd. having to do so, because the taxation
legislation which was drafted by lawyers of these multinationals, politicians
involved with paramilitaries, and the Canadian agency for cooperation, returns to
these companies 175% of the investment which they make in the hiring of
workers.
We demand that the governments which, knowing of this cause, buy this coal
figuratively bathed in blood, cease their purchases of this coal, especially the
United States, Holland, Canada and Israel, and several other European countries
which have at some other time lived from the work of slaves and now wish to
continue doing the same thing, not being important to them the infamous
conditions to which workers and residents are subjected in order to benefit the
pockets of the companies with headquarters in the so-called developed
countries. We call upon the labor unions of Europe and North America to remove
the money of their pension funds of these businesses involved in crimes against
the defenseless population of our country and to support a worldwide boycott of
Drummond Ltd. and of Glencoe for being responsible for this conduct in our
country.
National Board of Directors, Bogota, April 14, 2015.
Footnote 1: After the lawyers sued Chevron-Texaco and won their case in the
Court of Sucumbios, confirmed thereafter by the National Court of Justice, the
decision was not recognized by the multinational, which proceeded to sue the
Ecuadorian State and later the lawyers, in an act of cynicism and impudence
characteristic of multinational organizations which obey criminal dictates.