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- iching, on 12/09/2007, -0/+3Chiquita is the successor to the United Fruit Company, which it states on its website "made a number of mistakes - including the use of improper government influence, antagonism toward organized labor, and disregard for the environment". On its website, the company states that in 1975 the "involvement of United Brands in Honduran bribery scandal led to the enactment of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" and that the "company stock plunged and Chairman and Chief Executive Eli Black committed suicide." In 1990 the UFC changed its name to Chiquita Brands International, Inc.
United Fruit company and the CIA
In 1954, a CIA-orchestrated coup ended what Guatemalans call the "Ten Years of Spring," which began with the bloodless overthrow of military dictator Jorge Ubico in 1944. During this period, two democratically-elected civilian presidents governed Guatemala, trying to provide opportunities and raise the standard of living. Jacobo Arbenz, elected in 1950, began to push agrarian reforms more seriously than his predecessor. The United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) (UFCo) protested when unused portions of its vast holdings were expropriated and distributed to land-less peasants. The Guatemalan government paid the US company the tax-declared value of the land, but UFCo protested to the highest levels of the US government.
Two UFCo stockholders at the time were the Dulles brothers, Secretary of State and head of the CIA in the Eisenhower administration. © 1998, Piet van Lear, A War Called Peace
Chiquita sued in NY over killings in Colombia
Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:09pm EST
NEW YORK, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The largest U.S. lawsuit to date against top banana producer Chiquita Brands International (CQB.N: Quote, Profile, Research) was filed on Wednesday, claiming the company funded and armed a Colombian paramilitary organization accused of killing banana growers.
The civil lawsuit seeks a total of $7.86 billion on behalf of 393 victims and their relatives and accuses Chiquita of conspiring with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym AUC, to control Colombia's banana growing regions.
"It was about acquiring every aspect of banana distribution and sale through a reign of terror," plaintiffs' lawyer Jonathan Reiter told reporters in New York. The suit seeks damages for supporting terrorism, war crimes, wrongful death and torture.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, is the latest of several complaints filed by Colombian victims against Chiquita in the United States this year.
More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/americasCrisis/idUS ...
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