I was just reading an article in The Scotsman that a jailed warlord is claiming the three big bannana firms, Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte financed right-wing Colombian militias who murdered thousands in a decade long reign of terror.
In testimony to investigators, Salvatore Mancuso named multinationals Chiquita, Del Monte and Dole as having made regular payments to the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.
I have somewhere in my brain a distant recollection that the bannana industry was corrupt with horrible labor practices, so this is probably not too suprising to a lot of folks.
Mancuso, once second-in-command of the AUC, did not specify why the companies paid the militias, but the illegal groups often exacted "war taxes" from businesses and ranchers in areas where they operated.
Wealthy landowners and drug traffickers created the paramilitaries in the early 1980s to protect them from rebel extortion and kidnapping but the groups have since largely degenerated into murderous gangs.
They were also union busters, and killed hundreds of labour rights activists. Colombia's prosecutor's office estimates the paramilitaries left at least 10,000 bodies in mass graves.
A spokesperson for Dole has denied the accusation, but Chiquita has acknowledged paying the paramilitaries 1.7 million over six years and has paid a fine of 25 million.
My question is, if Chiquita has admitted funding and supporting terrorists, isn't that illegal under the Patriot Act and why hasn't there been an inquiry from our 'strong on terrorism' Bush Administration?
I'm also wondering if the US media will cover this story? A google search under news for Chiquita/Dole turns up stories written in Canada, The Netherlands, Egypt, and one tiny little blurb in the Detroit News, but be careful if you blink cause you will miss it.
