The Daily Background

Some time ago, I wrote a little bit about the case of US corporations paying right-wing militias (they’ve been designated terrorist groups by the government) for protection money so they could operate in Colombia with impunity from labor regulations and worker’s rights laws.

Naturally, Republicans defended the accused firms, which allegedly paid millions of dollars to these right-wing militias, which in turn killed local union activists who were (non-violently) fighting for worker’s rights.

One of the US companies that allegedly hired these right-wing militias was Chiquita. You know, the banana company. Well, they pled guilty and they’ve just paid the first $5 million of their $25 million settlement:

The charges that Chiquita provided material support to a terrorist organization uncovered a grim underworld of corporate protection money given to Colombian armed groups accused of massive kidnappings, killings and displacement of innocent civilians.
[…]
The company made more than 100 payments to the AUC [a right wing terrorist group], totaling $1.7 million, until they were stopped in February 2004. The payments were illegal after September 2001, when the State Department declared the AUC a terrorist organization.

Prosecutors argued that the company continued to pay the AUC even after some company officers expressed fears that they were breaking U.S. laws.

The company still faces civil lawsuits by Colombian victims, which the company says it will fight “vigorously.”

Oh, I’m sure they’ll fight those lawsuits quite vigorously. Vote with your pocketbook. No more Chiquita bananas.

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog