05:12 PM
In a court in Florida, United States, a jury found the multinational Chiquita Brands, dedicated to the production and marketing of plantains and bananas, guilty of financing the Colombian paramilitaries during the 1990s. According to experts, this ruling opens the door to future trials that will put national and foreign companies that have given money to the actors in the Colombian armed conflict in the dock.
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The case was decided in a West Palm Beach court after almost twenty years of arguments by the multinational’s defenders and the plaintiffs, who represented nine victims of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, AUC. The thesis that was successful in the trial was that by giving money to the paramilitaries the company made possible the murders, massacres and land dispossessions that they perpetrated in various areas of the country, including Urabá Antioquia and Córdoba.
For its part, the company’s line of defense was that the payments were mandatory to protect its employees and that they were never intended to sponsor any criminal activity. This explanation did not convince the jury, which concluded that the multinational knew about the paramilitary crimes.
“This verdict sends a strong message to companies around the world that profit at the expense of human rights: their actions will not go unpunished. “These families, who suffered siege by armed groups and corporations, demonstrated their strength and managed to triumph in the judicial system,” he told the press. Mark Simonslegal director of EarthRights International.
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