In a historic decision this Monday, June 10, it was learned that the US justice system found the multinational banana company Chiquita Brands responsible for financing paramilitarism in Colombia in the 1990s, exactly in Urabá and Magdalena.
The case was resolved after six weeks of trial, after 17 years of judicial process in which nine victims of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) took action for payments made by the banana company to armed men who committed several crimes in different regions.
Chiquita Brands’ main lawyer argued for more than three hours that the company had to pay the AUC paramilitaries to save workers’ lives and that, furthermore, the multinational’s presence in Colombia was positive.
The victims’ lawyer Jack Scarola refuted the arguments and assured that the company made a “devil’s pact” by choosing to finance the paramilitaries and added that, even if the company was threatened and extorted by the AUC, it remains responsible. The lawyer stated that, under the law, Chiquita’s lawyers would have had to show that he had no other alternative to prove a “duress” defense.
The relationship between the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and the company occurred during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2007, the US justice system fined Chiquita Brands $25,000 after finding it guilty of financing the illegal group. with about 1.7 million dollars.
That same year, after the fine was imposed, several victims of paramilitarism in Urabá and Magdalena, where the company operated, filed a lawsuit arguing that Chiquita Brands has not compensated them.
Although only nine victims participated in the trial, whose relatives were murdered by the AUC. However, the legal process against Chiquita includes hundreds of victims whose cases may be resolved in subsequent trials or through an eventual agreement.
Although the ruling occurred in the United States, sources close to the case explained that the Colombian Civil Code will apply because it is a US company whose decisions were made in this country. That is to say, following article 2341, the victims will have to be compensated and repaired for the damage caused.
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