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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