Refuge51

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/11/14...uit/index.html
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Chiquita Brands International faces a $7.86 billion lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of nearly 400 Colombian families who say the company should be held responsible for the "torture and murder" of their loved ones.
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With a map of alleged victims, Jonathan Reiter makes his case Wednesday at a New York news conference.

Attorney Jonathan Reiter said his clients are seeking "damages for terrorism, war crimes ... and wrongful death."

The plaintiffs are asking for $10 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages for each of the 393 victims named in the suit.

Earlier this year, Chiquita, as part of a plea agreement, admitted that what it called protection payments had been given to Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, or AUC. AUC was named a terrorist organization by the United States in 2002, making it a crime to give them money.

The lawsuit alleges Chiquita's interaction with the paramilitary group went further than the payments -- it accuses the company of facilitating shipments of arms to the group.

"They conspired with the AUC, aided and abetted them in a far-reaching conspiracy and plan to control every aspect of banana growing, distribution and sale," Reiter said.

The attorney said one couple refused to sell their banana farm "for pennies" and were killed by AUC in 2001, and other murder victims had been directed to "sell their bananas only to Chiquita."

The families filing the suit will remain anonymous because of fear of reprisals in their home country, he said.

"The principal upon which this lawsuit is brought is that when you put money into the hands of terrorists, when you put guns into the hands of terrorists, then you are legally responsible for the atrocities, the murders and the tortures that those terrorists commit," Reiter said.

Responding to the allegations Wednesday afternoon, the company said, "Chiquita Brands International categorically denies the allegations made by these attorneys. We reiterate that Chiquita and its employees were victims and that the actions taken by the company were always motivated to protect the lives of our employees and their families."

Chiquita's director of communications, Michael Mitchell, went on to say, "Our company had been forced to make protection payments to safeguard our workforce. It is absolutely untrue for anyone to suggest that these payments were made for any other purpose."

Mitchell said the company will fight the allegations. "Chiquita has already been the victim of extortion in Colombia. We will not allow ourselves to become extortion victims in the United States."

In the March plea agreement, Chiquita Brands International agreed to pay a $25 million fine for the payments made by the company's former banana-producing subsidiary in Colombia.

During a government investigation, the company admitted to making payments to AUC even after outside counsel told the company those payments were illegal and should stop immediately.

__________________
I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.
~George McGovern~

sunflower

Brings back memories of United Fruit Company.

__________________
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act”.

George Orwell

************************************

The owners of this country know the truth. It's called the American Dream....'cos you have to be asleep to believe it.

George Carlin

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Refuge51

You're not kidding!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company
Corporate raider Eli M. Black bought 733,000 shares of United Fruit in 1968, becoming the company's largest shareholder. In June 1970, Black merged United Fruit with his own public company, AMK (owner of meatpacker John Morrel), to create the United Brands Company. United Fruit had far less cash than Black had counted on and Black's mismanagement led to United Brands becoming crippled with debt. The company's losses were exacerbated by Hurricane Fifi in 1974, which destroyed many banana plantations in Honduras. On February 3, 1975, Black committed suicide by jumping out of his office on the 44th floor of the Pan Am Building in New York City. Later that year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission exposed a scheme by United Brands to bribe Honduran President Oswaldo López Arellano with $1.25 million, and the promise of another $1.25 million upon the reduction of certain export taxes. Trading in United Brands stock was halted and Lopez was ousted in a military coup.

After Black's suicide, Cincinnati-based American Financial, one of billionaire Carl H. Lindner, Jr.'s companies, bought into United Brands. In August 1984, Lindner took control of the company and renamed it Chiquita Brands International. The headquarters was moved to Cincinnati in 1985.

Throughout most of its history, United Fruit's main competitor was the Standard Fruit Company, now the Dole Food Company.

__________________
I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.
~George McGovern~

sunflower

Yes, lovely people, aren't they?

In 1954, the democratically elected Guatemalan government of Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was toppled by a group of Guatemalan army officers who invaded from Honduras with the covert assistance of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (see Operation PBSUCCESS). Before that, the directors of UFCO had lobbied to convince the Truman and Eisenhower administrations that Colonel Arbenz intended to align Guatemala with the Soviet bloc. Besides the disputed issue of Arbenz's allegiance to Communism, the directors of UFCO may have feared Arbenz's stated intention of purchasing uncultivated land from the company (at the value declared in tax returns) and redistributing it among Native American peasants. The American Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was an avowed opponent of Communism whose law firm had represented United Fruit. His brother Allen Dulles was the director of the CIA. The brother of the Assistant Secretary of State for InterAmerican Affairs John Moors Cabot had once been president of United Fruit. The overthrow of Arbenz, however, failed to benefit the Company. Its stock market value declined along with its profit margin. The Eisenhower administration proceeded with antitrust action against the company, which forced it to divest in 1958. In 1972, the company sold off the last of their Guatemalan holdings after over a decade of decline.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company

See this kind of garbage has been "business and usual" in Latin America for decades; so much so that convincing people in these small countries that their interest do NOT lie in big American corporations has been very difficult...but they seem to be coming around.

I have a sneaking suspicion that soon enough there will be other "brown" people we aren't supposed to like - again.

__________________
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act”.

George Orwell

************************************

The owners of this country know the truth. It's called the American Dream....'cos you have to be asleep to believe it.

George Carlin

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...m8fo8ne6xy.gif

Refuge51

So horrible!! I'm totally awestruck that I didn't know this before.

__________________
I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.
~George McGovern~

sunflower

The Arbenz story is pretty well known (now, at least). United Fruit has a long and ugly history in Latin America, as do so many other large corporations - and the Dulles' - I still don't understand how it is possible in this country that we can name buildings and things after thugs, and people just don't know what they've done.

__________________
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act”.

George Orwell

************************************

The owners of this country know the truth. It's called the American Dream....'cos you have to be asleep to believe it.

George Carlin

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...m8fo8ne6xy.gif