Murder and payoffs taint business in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Source: USA Today

Murder and payoffs taint business in Colombia
Updated 11h 10m ago

By David J. Lynch, USA TODAY

BOGOTA, Colombia — At first, the allegations in a federal courtroom sounded like the sort of thing conspiracy-minded college freshmen dream up during late-night bull sessions. A major U.S. corporation stood accused of routinely funneling large sums of money to a vicious right-wing Latin American militia that the United States government officially had branded a terrorist organization.
But then the corporation involved, Chiquita Brands International (CQB) , admitted it had paid $1.7 million to a Colombian paramilitary unit known as "Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia" (AUC) over a six-year period ending in 2004. Suddenly, an episode that had seemed like rabid conspiracy-mongering was recast as unsavory corporate misdeed.

Last month, a U.S. District Court judge formally accepted a settlement of the charges between the Cincinnati-based company and the Justice Department. After pleading guilty to a felony, Chiquita was fined $25 million and required to institute an ethics program to prevent future violations. The company said that it made more than 100 payments to the paramilitaries, which controlled large swaths of Colombia's principal banana-growing region, to protect its workers from attacks and that it earlier had paid left-wing guerillas for the same reason. The Justice Department says the armed groups Chiquita paid are responsible for "a staggering loss of life" in Colombia.
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Paramilitaries thought by destroying unions they will take away the social base of the guerillas. … Many businessmen and government officials took advantage of the situation to get rid of the unions," says Gustavo Triana of the CUT, Colombia's largest labor federation.

Less than 5% of the Colombian labor force is unionized, vs. about 14% two decades ago, according to the union-affiliated Escuela Nacional Sindical in Medellin.





Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2007-10-29-chiquita-terrorists-colombia_N.htm