Un US federal court on Monday judged banana giant Chiquita Brands International responsible for financing a Colombian paramilitary group known for its abuses, a historic victory for the victims’ families.
The Southern District of Florida jury ordered Chiquita to pay $38.3 million (€35.5 million) in damages to family members of eight people killed by United Self-Defense of Colombia militias ( AUC), placed by the United States on the list of terrorist organizations.
In 2007, Chiquita pleaded guilty in a US federal court to paying money to the AUC over six years, arguing that it did so to avoid violence against its staff and facilities in Colombia.
This “prolonged, regular and substantial” support, according to the US Department of Justice, constituted a federal crime, in the case of an organization considered terrorist by Washington. The group agreed to pay a criminal fine of $25 million.
The eight plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit in Florida accused the agribusiness group of having paid nearly two million dollars to the AUC and of having helped them transport weapons and drugs.
The jury accepted the argument that this money was used to commit war crimes such as homicides, kidnappings, extortion, torture and enforced disappearances.
“This verdict sends a strong message to companies around the world: those who profit from human rights violations will not go unpunished,” said Marco Simons, a lawyer at the non-governmental organization EarthRights International which assists the plaintiffs. .
According to this NGO, this is the first time that an American jury has judged a large American company responsible for complicity in human rights violations in another country.
Other civil proceedings against Chiquita are underway in the United States for the same reasons, and bring together hundreds of plaintiffs.
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