Chiquita Fruit Company Funds Right-Wing Death Squads … and FARC, According to Company Records

Chiquita Brands says it was “an extortion victim in Colombia, paying left- and right-wing groups to protect its employees, not to promote violence,” reports the Business Courier in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Chiquita Brands is headquartered.

But the lawsuit suggests Chiquita’s involvement with FARC may have been more pro-active than simply paying protection money. The suit alleges that the company created dummy corporations and falsified its payroll records to hide payments to FARC, and used its network of local transportation contractors to funnel weapons to the group.

Chiquita has a long and sordid history in Colombia. The most notorious incident took place in 1928, when the company was still known as United Fruit Company. Colombian troops massacred an unknown number of UFC workers — believed to be in the thousands — during a protest over bad work conditions on the company’s plantations.

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