Banana King Chiquita Sued For $7.86 Billion Over Murders Of Plantation Workers
November 14, 2007 10:19 p.m. EST



Paul Icamina - AHN News Writer
Bogota, Colombia (AHN) - A civil lawsuit seeks $7.86 billion on behalf of 393 victims and their relatives from Chiquita Brands International, accused of funding and arming a Colombian paramilitary organization that allegedly killed banana growers.

The lawsuit seeks damages for supporting terrorism, war crimes, wrongful death and torture with a value of $10 million in punitive and $10 million in compensatory damages for each of the victims.

The amount was based on a 2004 agreement, in which Libya admitted its role and paid up to $10 million to each of the families of the 270 people killed in the 1988 terrorism bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Chiquita had pleaded guilty to paying $1.7 million to the United Self-Defense Committees of Colombia which the United States has blacklisted as a "terrorist" group. The group is accused of carrying out massacres during Colombia's long-running guerrilla war before it began disarming in 2003.

"The company was forced to make such payments to both left- and right-wing organizations to protect the lives of our employees at a time when kidnappings and murders were frequent," said Chiquita spokesman Michael Mitchell.


http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009161821