Banana Giant Held Liable For Funding Colombian Death Squads

A US court has found multinational fruit company Chiquita Brands International liable for financing a Colombian paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), which was designated by the US as a terrorist organization at the time, Vanessa Buschschlüter reported for BBC News.

The case was brought by the families after Chiquita pleaded guilty in 2007 to making payments to the AUC. I Photo: Chiquita LikedIn

The AUC engaged in widespread human rights abuses, including murdering people it suspected of links with left-wing rebels.

Following a civil case brought by eight Colombian families whose relatives were killed by the AUC, Chiquita has been ordered to pay $38.3 million (£30 million) in damages to the families.

While the AUC claimed to have been created to defend landowners from attacks and extortion attempts by left-wing rebels, it acted as a death squad for drug traffickers.

At its height, it had an estimated 30,000 members who engaged in intimidation, drug trafficking, extortion, forced displacement, and killings.

The jury in the case, which was heard in a federal court in South Florida, found Chiquita responsible for the wrongful deaths of eight men murdered by the AUC. The victims ranged from trade unionists to banana workers.

The case was brought by the families after Chiquita pleaded guilty in 2007 to making payments to the AUC.

During the 2007 trial, it was revealed that Chiquita had made payments amounting to more than $1.7 million to the AUC in the six years from 1997 to 2004. The regular payments continued even after the AUC was designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organization in 2001.