Today, John McCain is in Colombia to press his full-throated support for free trade deals that will send more American jobs over to Colombia and Mexico without environmental and labor protections. That's our boy, John McCain! Now comes the breaking news that one of John McCain's top fundraisers helped fund a terrorist group in Colombia.
The co-host of a recent top-dollar fundraiser for Sen. John McCain oversaw the payment of roughly $1.7 million to a Colombian paramilitary group that is today designated a terrorist organization by the United States.
Carl H. Lindner Jr., the billionaire Cincinnati businessman, was CEO of Chiquita Brands International from 1984 to 2001, and remained on the company's board of directors until May 2002. Beginning under his tenure, Chiquita executives paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (known by the Spanish acronym AUC), which is described by George Washington University's National Security Archive as an "illegal right-wing anti-guerrilla group tied to many of the country's most notorious civilian massacres."
And John McCain's campaign has personally benefitted to the tune of $2 million from a fundraiser co-hosted by Lindner:
Late last week, Lindner co-hosted a $25,000-per-person fundraiser for McCain and the Republican Party in the wealthy Indian Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The event raised about $2 million; Lindner also serves on McCain's Ohio Victory Team.
This is quite ironic, given that John McCain has pressed Colombian President Uribe on human rights violations, and accused Obama of not doing much to support Uribe's anti-terrorism efforts.
Right now, the McCain aides are claiming that John McCain cannot be held accountable for the past actions of a fundraiser, but John McCain's known this guy, Lindner, for a long time and has done sweetheart deals for him:
However, in the past, McCain has done favors on Lindner's behalf. Last May, the Washington Post reported that in the late 1990s, McCain "promoted a deal in Arizona's Tonto National Forest involving property part-owned by Great American Life Insurance, a company run by billionaire Carl H. Lindner Jr., a prolific contributor to national political parties and presidential candidates."
John McCain, if you truly believe in supporting human rights, and opposing terrorist attacks, please return that $2 million dollars that Carl Lindner raised on your behalf. That is blood money tainted by the actions of Carl Linder. Also, your campaign manager, Charlie Black, lobbied for Chiquita, the company backed by Lindner, who funded these terrorist groups in Colombia.
For further information on the human rights violations in Colombia, please feel free to drop by this diary by Pragmaticus.