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Payments to foreign terrorist groups edit
In the 1990s and early 2000s, faced with an unstable political situation in Colombia, Chiquita and several other corporations including the Dole Food Company, Fresh Del Monte Produce and Hyundai Motor Corporation made payments to paramilitary organizations in the country, most notably the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).[1] Chiquita paid the AUC $1.7 million in a ten-year period [TK - Incorrect. Should be "seven-year period," as per next paragraph.] Although official accounts from the company state they only made these payments as the AUC was extorting payments from Chiquita in order to ensure their security,[2] these claims are disputed as Chiquita also allowed AUC to use their loading facilities to transport AK-47s.[3] [TK - There is other, perhaps even better, evidence of quid pro quo arrangements.] Indeed, the Chiquita's United States counsel had warned them against using this extortion defense in cases where the company benefitted from these payments,[4] and the company's lawyer reportedly told them to stop making the payments.[3] Chiquita's dealings with AUC continued even after it was officially designated as a terrorist organization in the United States. Although the company eventually voluntarily disclosed their involvement with AUC to the United States Department of Justice,[5] they still sent over $300,000 to the organization even after the Justice Department instructed them to halt all payments.[3]
On 14 March 2007, Chiquita Brands was fined $25 million as part of a settlement with the United States Justice Department for having ties to Colombian paramilitary groups. According to court documents, between 1997 and 2004, officers of a Chiquita subsidiary paid approximately $1.7 million to the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), in exchange for local employee protection in Colombia's volatile banana harvesting zone. Similar payments were also made to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), as well as the National Liberation Army (ELN) [TK - There are several other insurgent groups that were paid: EPL, Esperanza, Paz y Libertad (Comandos Populares), CRS. Adding these would make it necessary to significantly alter the last clause ("both" and "left-wing")] from 1989 to 1997, both left-wing organizations.[6][7] All three of these groups are on the U.S. State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. In 2013, Chiquita sued to prevent the United States government [TK - Replace "United States government" with "United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)" with link to main Wiki article on SEC] from releasing files about their illegal payments to Colombian left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups.[8] [TK "but was ultimately unsuccessful when a US federal appeals court rejected its "reverse FOIA" case and ordered the SEC to release 9,257 pages, the majority of which were copies Chiquita's own internal records, to the National Security Archive." Link to NSArchive Wiki entry? Add endnote: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/news/20150717-Court-Rejects-Chiquitas-Bid-to-Hide-Terror-Payment-Records/ ]
On 7 December 2007, the 29th Specialized District Attorney's Office in Medellín, Colombia subpoenaed the Chiquita board to answer questions "concerning charges for conspiracy to commit an aggravated crime and financing illegal armed groups". Nine board members named in the subpoena allegedly personally knew of the illegal operations.[9] One executive for the company penned a note which proclaimed that the payments were the "cost of doing business in Colombia" and also noted the "need to keep this very confidential – people can get killed."[10]
In 2013 and 2014, Chiquita spent $780,000 lobbying against the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, hiring lobbyists from Covington and Burling, a high-powered white shoe law firm.[11]
On 24 July 2014, a US appeals court threw out a lawsuit against Chiquita by 4,000 Colombians alleging that the corporation was aiding the right-wing paramilitary group responsible for the deaths of family members. The court ruled 2-1 that US federal courts have no jurisdiction over Colombian claims.[12][13]
In 2016, Judge Kenneth Marra of the Southern District of Florida ruled in favor of allowing Colombians to sue former Chiquita Brand International executives for the company's funding of the outlawed right-wing paramilitary organization that murdered their family members. He stated in his decision that “'profits took priority over basic human welfare' in the banana company executives' decision to finance the illegal death squads, despite knowing that this would advance the paramilitaries' murderous campaign."[14] In February 2018, an agreement between Chiquita and the families of the victims had been reached.[15]
Information about who was behind the Chiquita payments to terrorist groups was made available by the National Security Archive, a nongovernmental research organization, in a series of document releases related to Chiquita's operations.[16]
In 2018, Colombia's Office of the Attorney General filed charges against 13 Chiquita Brands International executives and administrators after tracing payments made by a local Chiquita affiliate to the paramilitary group AUC, some of which was used to buy machine guns.[17]
- ^ Kennard, Matt (27 January 2017). "Chiquita Made a Killing From Colombia's Civil War". Pulitzer Center. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
- ^ |"Chiquita to pay fine for deals with militants". Los Angeles Times. 15 March 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
- ^ a b c Cohen, Steven (10 April 2015). "The Supreme Court Needs to Decide: Can Victims Sue Chiquita For Sponsoring Terrorism?". The New Republic. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
- ^ Evans, Michael (7 April 2011). "The Chiquita Papers". Retrieved 21 May 2020.
- ^ "Chiquita to plead guilty to ties with terrorists". 14 March 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
- ^ Evans, Michael (2007-04-04). "'Para-politics' Goes Bananas". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
- ^ Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press writer, Chiquita to Pay $25M Fine in Terror Case Archived 31 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine, ABC News, 15 March 2007
- ^ "Chiquita Sues to Block Release of Files on Colombia Terrorist Payments". National Security Archive. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
- ^ Colectivodeabogados.org Archived 13 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Extraditions Cut Short Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective, 25 May 2008
- ^ Curt Anderson (31 May 2011). Bananas, Colombian death squads and a billion dollar lawsuit. The Associated Press. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
- ^ Mak, Tim (3 June 2014). "Chiquita Is Blocking a 9/11 Victims' Bill". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
- ^ Appeals Court Rejects Lawsuit Against Chiquita for Colombia Paramilitary Murders. Democracy Now! 25 July 2014.
- ^ Court tosses out cases against Chiquita over Colombia killings. Al Jazeera America. 24 July 2014.
- ^ Families Of Death Squad Victims Allowed To Sue Chiquita Executives. CommonDreams. 4 June 2016.
- ^ "Chiquita settles with families of U.S. victims of Colombia's FARC". Reuters. 6 February 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
- ^ Michael Evans, ed. (24 April 2017). "The New Chiquita Papers: Secret Testimony and Internal Records Identify Banana Executives who Bankrolled Terror in Colombia". National Security Archive. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
- ^ "Chiquita Brands faces new death squad charges in Colombia". Associated Press. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.