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Opening Statement
Chairman Eliot L. Engel
Joint Hearing on Protection and Money: U.S. Companies, Their Employees, and Violence in Colombia
Thursday, June 28, 2007

Good morning. I am pleased to join Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Andrews and Ms. Woolsey at this morning's hearing on U.S. corporate malfeasance in Colombia. The Western Hemisphere Subcommittee held a hearing on U.S. - Colombia relations in April in which we began to explore this issue and I thank Chairman Delahunt for organizing this oversight hearing to have a more in-depth look at U.S. corporate involvement with Colombian paramilitaries.

As was discussed this morning, Chiquita Brands International recently admitted to paying off the AUC - a Colombian paramilitary group on the U.S. terrorist list - and is now paying a $25 million fine to the U.S. Department of Justice. Even more egregious than the case against Chiquita, U.S.-owned Drummond Coal Company has been accused of two extremely serious crimes: giving money to a terrorist group and doing so to kill certain Colombian labor leaders.

If the allegations against Drummond are true, it would be an extremely serious violation of our laws. In the wake of 9/11, it is shocking to me that allegations of payments to terrorist groups have not been aggressively investigated and prosecuted by the Justice Department.

It seems to me that there are terrorist groups and, well, there are terrorist groups. I can only imagine the force and speed with which the entire prosecutorial force of the United States government would come down on a company alleged to have assisted al Qaeda or Hezbollah. However, in Colombia we have very credible allegations of a US-owned company, Drummond Coal, having paid a terrorist group to kill 3 prominent trade union leaders in 2001, and I haven't heard a peep from the Justice Department. The victims of terrorist attacks are turning over in their graves, and leaders of the labor movement of today and years past who have fought for the rights of workers are demanding justice.

It appears that we have only scratched the surface of U.S. corporate malfeasance in Colombia. New revelations of possible criminal behavior - each of which must be judged on its own merit - have emerged recently, and I believe that the Justice Department must carefully investigate each allegation. In May, former right-wing paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso, testifying as part of the peace and justice law proceedings in Colombia, listed the names of various U.S. companies which he said had collaborated with the AUC, including other U.S. companies. I very much hope that a full investigation can be done on these serious allegations.

I am a New Yorker and the memory of 9/11 remains fresh with me. I am shocked by the turn of events that has made today's hearing necessary, but in the memory of all innocent victims of terror, we must pursue these allegations in the name of justice. There is no distinction in our law between terrorists from the Middle East and those in Latin America, and I will be watching in the days ahead to see that an even hand will guide our investigations and prosecutions.

Thank you.