Chiquita admits its company Banadex paid more than a million dollars to hire death squads in Colombia to kill thousands of human rights activists, union organizers and farmers.
Chiquita is the successor to the notorious human rights violator United Fruit Company. It comes as no surprise that the Zapata Corporation, an oil company created by H.W. Bush, acquired the controlling interest of United Fruit in 1969.
Now, AP reports that Colombia wants eight Chiquita officials extradited. Further, Drummond Coal, with Israel its primary customer, is now under investigation and linked to those death squads. Drummond has denied it. With kickbacks to the Bush administration and Colombia's president, Chiquita and other corporations have escaped responsibility until now.
Coal shipments carried cocaine:
“The paramilitary has secret employees at Drummond’s La Loma coal mines,” continues Garcia in his private prison cubicle.“I can also tell you that there were two times that the paramilitary affixed shipments of cocaine to the bottom of the boats used by Drummond to send its coal to Europe, Israel, and the US,” offers Garcia.
Read more: http://www.latinamericanpost.com/index.php?mod=seccion&secc=1&conn=4584
But this isn't the first time Chiquita has avoided prosecution. As with the current case, in the year 2000 Chiquita placed the blame on a "recently acquired" company, entered into an agreement with the US government and avoided prosecution:
Justice Dept website: "For instance, a few years ago Chiquita Brand International disclosed to the government that a recently acquired subsidiary, John Morrell & Co. had been illegally dumping slaughterhouse waste into the Big Sioux River and falsifying its paperwork. In recognition of its disclosure and cooperation, Chiquita Brand was not prosecuted although the subsidiary and several of its officials were subsequently charged and convicted of Clean Water Act felonies."
Read more:
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/speech/ethics.htm
Narco News:
Chiquita paid a fine and wiped its hands of death squads:
..."None of the survivors of the AUC's crimes will ever see a penny of that money.
And even though top executives personally approved the payments to the AUC, none of them are facing a single day in jail.
A bitter irony for Arab-Americans locked away in federal prison in the name of the war on terror, whose crimes pale in comparison to Chiquita's: People like Dr.Rafil Dhafir an Iraqi-American who is serving 22 years in prison -- not for giving money to terrorists, but for sending food, medicine, and blankets to needy Iraqis in violation of U.S. sanctions. "
--Sean Donahue
http://www.narconews.com/
Now Colombia is investigating whether Chiquita was involved in weapons shipments to death squads. In today's response to Los Angeles Times, Chiquita is now denying allegations it was involved in the shipment of weapons to paramilitary.
"Coca-Cola: Drink of the Death Squads"
(video)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HFZ3cH1UAI
Coca-Cola accused of hiring death squads to kill union members in Colombia:
http://www.colombiajournal.org/colombia73.htm
"When Corporations and Government Become One"
The Bush family and the architects of Nazism:
http://www.the-signal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=47268&format=html
Colombian senators in prison; computer of paramilitary revealed the links
http://www.guardian.co.uk/colombia/story/0,,2043614,00.html
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