Bruised bananas

Washington, D.C.

Chiquita Brands International last week admitted it paid “protection money” to paramilitary organizations that had threatened workers on its banana plantations in Colombia. From 1997 to 2004, the Cincinnati-based company said, it paid millions of dollars to the AUC, a right-wing organization that financed its operations through extortion and drug dealing. When left-wing rebels took control of Chiquita’s Colombian banana-growing territory, Chiquita paid off the leftist groups. Chiquita pleaded guilty in federal court to aiding terrorist organizations and agreed to pay a $25 million fine. The company called the outcome “a reasoned solution to the dilemma the company faced several years ago.”

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