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Colombian Victims of Drummond's War Crimes Subpoena Former President Uribe
Colombian Victims of Drummond's War Crimes Subpoena Former President Uribe Contact:
Terry Collingsworth,
Counsel for Plaintiffs
Conrad & Scherer
202-543-5811 (office)
202-255-2198 (mobile)In 2009, nearly 500 family members of Colombian citizens who were murdered by paramilitary forces during the Colombian civil confíict brought a federal Iawsuit in Birmingham, Alabama against Drummond Company, Inc. for its role in supporting war crimes. The Plaintiffs discovered significant evidence that Drummond made an explicit agreement in 1999 with the main paramilitary group, the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia ("AUC"), that Drummond would provide significant funding and other support to the AUC to allow the AUC to escálate its civil war with the primary guerilla group in Colombia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ("FARC"). This support continued until 2007, well after the AUC was designated a terrorist organization in 2001 by the U.S. State Department.
Drummond's direct support to a terrorist organization made it an aider and abetter and co-conspirator with the AUC in its brutal attacks on innocent civilians, including the murdered relatives of the Plaintiffs. The federal court in this case ruled on April 30, 2010 that Plaintiffs had stated a viable claim against Drummond, and the case is now in the discovery phase.
The Drummond Plaintiffs have subpoenaed former Colombian President Uribe during his stay in the United States to compel his attendance at a formal deposition in the court case. Mr, Uribe has direct knowledge of several key issues in the case, including the extent of government military support to protect the Drummond mining facilities in Colombia, the relationship and level of cooperation between the military forces and the AUC, particularly in relation to the areas in Cesar Province where Drummond operated, the military's role in covering up war crimes comrnttted by tbe AUC, and the efforts by the Colombian government during Mr. Uribe's tenure to suppress evidence of Drummond's relationship to the AUC.
The deposition of Mr. Uribe is scheduled for Monday, November 22 at the Washington, D.C. offices of Conrad & Scherer.
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Established 1974 Rex Conrad 1935-1999
William Scherer Conrad & Scherer IXP
1156 15th St. NW, Suite 502
Washington, DC 20005
Phone 202.543.4001
Fax 1.866.803.1125
www.conradscherer.com
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