Money flowed to militia
Chiquita: Millions in fines for terror links
The US banana company Chiquita has once again been sentenced to pay millions in damages due to its links to a paramilitary group in Colombia. However, the company claims that these are protective payments.
A jury in the US state of Florida ruled on Monday that the company must pay 38.3 million dollars in damages to the families of eight Colombian men who were killed by the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).
Chiquita knowingly provided financial support to the AUC, which constituted a foreseeable risk of harm. The company was unable to prove that the financial contributions were protection money intended to avert an imminent threat to the company or its employees. Chiquita did not initially comment on the ruling.
Not the first fine
"The verdict does not bring the husbands and sons who were killed back to life, but it sets the record straight and puts the responsibility for financing terrorism where it belongs: on Chiquita's doorstep," said the lawyer for the families of those killed.
Chiquita had already been sentenced to a fine of 25 million dollars in 2007 for similar allegations. At the time, the company had pleaded guilty to paying protection money for the safety of its employees between 2001 and 2004.
AUC officially disbanded in 2006
The paramilitary AUC was classified as a terrorist organization by the US government and the EU. Until its official dissolution in 2006, the militia was considered one of the most brutal groups in the country.
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