For those who don’t know, Chiquita (and Dole) have done this in the past as United Fruit Company to destabilize countries in Latin America.
Edit: Yup that is where the term [Banana Republic](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic) originated from.
"In 1952, the government of Guatemala began expropriating unused United Fruit Company land to landless peasants.[14] The company responded by intensively lobbying the U.S. government to intervene and mounting a misinformation campaign to portray the Guatemalan government as communist.[16] In 1954, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency deposed the democratically elected government of Guatemala, and installed a pro-business military dictatorship."
Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company
It is a lot easier to avoid a general sadness about everything if you don't know.
Sometimes I wish I didn't know (not really, but it sure would be easier on the soul).
> Sometimes I wish I didn't know (not really)
Maybe this will make you feel better:
It seems to me that ignorance isn't really easier on the soul. The problems are still apparent, but their origins aren't. This means that the ignorant person is still angry, but at the wrong things, and for reasons that make no sense.
If we use immigration as an example, consider a person who hates immigrants because they are too lazy (and are migrating to siphon state benefits) but also too hard-working (and thus stealing jobs).
Ignorance isn't bliss; it just makes you wrong about why you're sad.
One of the masterminds behind a lot of those coups has an airport and town named after him (Washington-Dulles International and the town of Dulles, Virginia)
The fuckin’ Dulles Brothers are responsible for so many deaths due to CIA interference. If they aren’t already, their actions should be taught in schools so they can be remembered as the monsters they were
This is not even the top things USA done, more like Thursday
"The United States gave the Sihanouk-Khmer Rouge coalition millions of dollars in aid while enforcing an economic embargo against the Vietnamese-backed Cambodian government."
https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/cambodia/tl04.html#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20gave%20the,the%20Vietnamese%2Dbacked%20Cambodian%20government.
And a sitting present committed high treason doing it. Does anyone remember Ollie North and Regan? Simultaneously selling guns and bringing back cocane selling the coke and all the while starting a war on drugs, they were solely supplying the whole time.
When someone asks why I don’t care to argue when parents/grandparents bring up conspiracy theories, the US Government hasn’t exactly made it easy to defend/acquit them. In fact, the entire United Fruit/Chiquita thing is considerably worse than many conspiracy theories I’ve heard.
> I feel like people don't really understand how much of South America has been fucked with by the USA. The list of CIA coops alone is staggering.
lol most US Americans literally believe they are spreading freedom and democracy.
Tell a US American that US America is a force of evil that has spread death and misery around the world like no other country since WWII and their head will explode.
For anyone that wants a deep dive into this history, there's a fascinating book you can check out: ["Bananas: How The United Fruit Company Shaped the World."](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2102113.Bananas)
For example, in addition to the comment above this, they also contributed to the Cuban Missile Crisis. One of the UFC's executives were related to the heads of the CIA, and after all their fuckery in South America, they felt confident they could extend to Cuba.
Back then the Dulles Brothers were secretary of state and head of the CIA. A while before they were lawyers for Sullivan and Cromwell and advisors to one of their most important clients, the United Fruit Company.
This needs to be higher. United fruit basically just called their old lawyers who subscribed to a then popular theory that all conflicts arose from disagreements between wealthy elites and that the soviet union was behind multiple unrelated left wing movements in South and Central America. Impossible to overstate how much these guys loved Christianity and hated communism.
Unfortunately it's still working out great for these companies, because now they can grow in the US while still using southern country labor to harvest at dirt cheap wages.
So we’ve had to deal with an entire continents worth of people trying to emigrate to the US and Canada, and having to hear a bunch of racists and bigots spout “build that wall” for DECADES all so we could have a constant supply of bananas at Walmart?
What a terrible fucking trade.
The massive corn subsidizing so we could put corn syrup in everything did that too.
Basically ruined traditional farming in central america the prices were subsidized so cheap it was easier to import than have peasants grow it
Here's a history lesson:
> In the early 20th century, the United Fruit Company had significant economic and political power in Central America, where it controlled large swaths of land and employed thousands of workers.
> However, in the 1940s and 1950s, a social reform movement emerged in Guatemala that sought to redistribute land and wealth, improve workers’ rights, and challenge the dominance of foreign corporations like United Fruit. The movement was led by President Jacobo Árbenz, who was elected in 1950 and implemented land reform policies that threatened the interests of United Fruit.
> In response, United Fruit lobbied the U.S. government to take action against Árbenz, arguing that his government was Communist and posed a threat to U.S. interests in the region. The CIA was tasked with carrying out a covert operation to overthrow Árbenz and install a government more friendly to American interests.
> The coup had devastating consequences for Guatemala, as it led to decades of political instability, repression, and violence. The new government reversed many of Árbenz’s reforms and cracked down on political dissidents and labor activists.
And yes, United Fruit (now Chiquita) continued to destabilize the region even into the 2000s, funding conflicts between the government and guerrillas:
> During the 1990s and early 2000s, in order to protect its operations, Chiquita Banana began making payments to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary group. This group was responsible for numerous human rights violations, including massacres and forced displacement of communities.
I continually am ashamed of the actions of my home country in the lands of others, historically. We suck.. not sure how the US can fix all the BS caused around the planet in the past 160-175 years.
agree with ashamed. The US /CIA are out for the best interest for themselves not the country or region they are meddling in. We are definitely reaping those efforts now at the border and other areas. Its about money and power. It always is with those in powerful positions and weslth.
> The US /CIA are out for the best interest for themselves not the country or region they are meddling in.
That's not true. The elite that generally control the purse strings and pay for many politicians in the US do not have the best interests of the US at heart.
Creating corruption to drive profits towards them due to strong arming local economies. An incident occurred called [The Banana Massacre](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Massacre) because of that, as Columbia was afraid they would lock off the U.S and European market. The term banana republic was directly named because of the interference of companies like United Fruit and Standard Fruit.
It is colonialism. They can bribe the government into letting them exploit the workers without paying taxes and then use thugs to kill any workers who resists.
I think at one point, they owned 40% of Honduras, which is insane. The US gets a steady supply of exotic fruits, and since the locals cant grow staple crops, they have to buy American wheat.
>Chiquita in 2007 confessed in a US court to having financed the AUC from 1997 to 2004, which was then designated as a foreign terrorist organization in the United States…
>The group laid down arms in 2006, confessing to crimes and agreeing to compensate victims.
The family of the victims persevered after all this time, good for them. Corporations need to be held accountable.
No. IG farben did. IG farben was a conglomerate of of 6 companies, Bayer being one of those 6.
[zyklon b](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zyklon_B) was the gas. There were only 2 businessman that were executed for war crimes. And it was the 2 who came up with the delivery mode for the cyanide.
That was actually a different company, but if it makes you feel better the company that made the crematoriums Topf and Sons went out of business…in 1996.
I feel like crimes such as these should be the only ones eligible for the death penalty. A CEO doesn't care if the company gets fined, but they can't spend their blood-soaked money if their head is detached. The Sackler family would be prime candidates for such a punishment, as an additional example.
2004????
I remember studying this in high school in the 90s as "shit US Government did in the stupidity of cold war"
The fucken USSR collapsed and China changed, and these guys were still funding death squads?
Companies did this shit before the USSR ever existed. It's never had anything to do with their bogeyman of Communism, and everything to do with maximizing profits.
The jury awarded surviving family members $38.3 million in damages for the deaths of eight victims who were killed by the AUC, a group that Chiquita admitted to have financed in a US court in 2007. "The jury accepted the argument that the money transferred to the paramilitaries was used to commit war crimes such as homicides, kidnappings, extortion, torture and forced disappearances." The punishment is not nearly enough to hold Chiquita accountable for all the atrocities they've financed in the process of destabilizing Latin America, but I'm pretty surprised to see them getting any sort of retribution under the law. It's so common to see corporations getting away with everything.
For most big companies like Chiquita, fines and damages on this level are generally considered part of the cost of doing business. And that's always going to be the case for as long as paying the fines is less expensive than complying with the law.
Well, as far as I can tell there's still time for them to appeal, and appeals get you further away from regular people on juries and closer to judges who need to keep political elites happy, so I wouldn't consider it a victory yet, unfortunately. Hope I'm wrong though.
If corporations are "people", then why can't they be jailed or given the death penalty? If a business funds and causes the death of innocent people, then why can't that business be vaporized? Seems like a perfectly reasonable outcome to me
I had to double take at this headline.
*Again?*
Did these dumb motherfuckers not learn their lesson after the term "banana republic" was *literally invented to describe the last time this company did this?*
People really need to understand this. Yeah, I get that everybody knows corporations will commit crimes so long as it balances the checkbook, but this is insane behavior with far reaching and long term *international* ramifications. The punishment for this should be as harsh as possible because this has consequences that are so vast and lasting that it will never be accurately recorded. That was a crime against humanity and virtually nothing came of it for anyone at fault.
They've surely profited more from their crimes than they've ever paid. Fines are just a business expense.
Worth noting that in this specific case, one condition they made of their payment was that the names of the individuals who brokered deals with the terrorists would be kept secret. The US State Department and DOJ both rejected calls for extradition of these criminals, as they do every time.
In a previous 'life' they were the United Fruit Company who supported (or got the CIA to support) some really vile Dictatorships :/
"When the trumpet sounded, it was
all prepared on the earth,
the Jehovah parcelled out the earth
to Coca Cola, Inc., Anaconda,
Ford Motors, and other entities:
The Fruit Company, Inc.
reserved for itself the most succulent,
the central coast of my own land,
the delicate waist of America.
It rechristened its territories
as the **’Banana Republics’**
and over the sleeping dead,
over the restless heroes
who brought about the greatness, the liberty and the flags,
it established the comic opera:
abolished the independencies,
presented crowns of Caesar,
unsheathed envy, attracted
the dictatorship of the flies, ....."
* From "United Fruit Co." by Pablo Neruda
>The jury awarded the surviving family members **$38.3 million** in damages for the deaths of eight victims.
>“This verdict sends a powerful message to corporations everywhere: profiting from human rights abuses will not go unpunished. These families, victimized by armed groups and corporations, asserted their power and prevailed”
Chiquita's annual revenue in 2023 was **$3.1 billion**, so the damages constitute about 1.2%, or 4.5 days of sales, of annual revenue. This is not going to do anything to deter them from doing this again.
They keep doing it because their punishment is a fine and payout. Unless you actually persecute their owners, nothing will change. Expect to be reading these headlines again and again.
These activities, from *literally this same company*.
The reason United Fruit Company changed it's name to Chiquita was to ditch the bad press from this exact behavior in the mid-20th century.
In addition to stuff already mentioned higher in the thread, they were also behind the [Banana Massacre.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Massacre)
It's truly staggering how much pain and misery has been inflicted on South America over banana profits.
[This press release](https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2007/March/07_nsd_161.html) has more information about what happened between 1997 and 2004 when the payments took place. Sounds like the AUC met with Banadex and said “nice operation you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it”. The problem, as far as the U.S. government was concerned back in 2007, only started in 2001 after the AUC was designated a terrorist organization, but this Chiquita subsidiary kept making protection payments for three more years despite outside council repeatedly warning them that this was illegal.
The amount they paid the paramilitaries had to be less than the profit they made by "removing the obstacles to profit". Fine them for all profits made during that period and a bit extra.
That's all? They did all that and all they have to do is write a check that they'll make back by the end of the month if not sooner? I feel like I'd be in a little more trouble than that if I was found guilty of funding a murderous paramilitary group but hey 🤷🏾♂️
Alternative Title: [“The originators of the phrase ‘Banana Republic’ are still doing their literally Goddamned thing in Latin America.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic)
Good fuck Chiquita and fuck the left and right paramilitaries, also fuck Americans for loving Cocaine so much. Legalize the shit. It’s caused so much death and destruction in Colombia.
Holy shit. Finally? If most US citizens knew about our evil bs for corporate interests in South America for hundreds of years, they’d be less surprised people are trying to escape from there.
[Never forget](http://blogs.evergreen.edu/terroir-jahni/why-you-shouldnt-buy-bananas/) they also cause horrible birth defects and infertilities in the local populations.
It’s about time. We’ll never be able to correct the damage we’ve done in Central and South America, but acknowledging it is a start, then admitting that the damage is, in part, responsible for many people leaving their home country out of fear.
For those who don’t know, Chiquita (and Dole) have done this in the past as United Fruit Company to destabilize countries in Latin America. Edit: Yup that is where the term [Banana Republic](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic) originated from.
Which is where the term “Banana Republic” originates from.
Corporations act immorally and unethically for profits? Big oil is horrified. Big Pharm is appalled. Even Nestle is shocked.
But let’s limit government and any control the people have on corporations and call ourselves patriots and everyone else communists.
Yup, and I posted a link to it in another reply.
Seems like a great term to name a clothing company after.
Shitlord brand shirts!
Much of that instability laid the groundwork for the migration and border crisis we see today. Reap what you sow.
"In 1952, the government of Guatemala began expropriating unused United Fruit Company land to landless peasants.[14] The company responded by intensively lobbying the U.S. government to intervene and mounting a misinformation campaign to portray the Guatemalan government as communist.[16] In 1954, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency deposed the democratically elected government of Guatemala, and installed a pro-business military dictatorship." Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company
I feel like people don't really understand how much of South America has been fucked with by the USA. The list of CIA coops alone is staggering.
It is a lot easier to avoid a general sadness about everything if you don't know. Sometimes I wish I didn't know (not really, but it sure would be easier on the soul).
> Sometimes I wish I didn't know (not really) Maybe this will make you feel better: It seems to me that ignorance isn't really easier on the soul. The problems are still apparent, but their origins aren't. This means that the ignorant person is still angry, but at the wrong things, and for reasons that make no sense. If we use immigration as an example, consider a person who hates immigrants because they are too lazy (and are migrating to siphon state benefits) but also too hard-working (and thus stealing jobs). Ignorance isn't bliss; it just makes you wrong about why you're sad.
I have noticed this, but sometimes it's hard to reconcile when you're feeling bad about the real thing ;).
One of the masterminds behind a lot of those coups has an airport and town named after him (Washington-Dulles International and the town of Dulles, Virginia)
The fuckin’ Dulles Brothers are responsible for so many deaths due to CIA interference. If they aren’t already, their actions should be taught in schools so they can be remembered as the monsters they were
Coups* the p is silent
This is not even the top things USA done, more like Thursday "The United States gave the Sihanouk-Khmer Rouge coalition millions of dollars in aid while enforcing an economic embargo against the Vietnamese-backed Cambodian government." https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/cambodia/tl04.html#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20gave%20the,the%20Vietnamese%2Dbacked%20Cambodian%20government.
Is this CIA co-op member owned and volunteer run?
No. It's despot owned and run.
And a sitting present committed high treason doing it. Does anyone remember Ollie North and Regan? Simultaneously selling guns and bringing back cocane selling the coke and all the while starting a war on drugs, they were solely supplying the whole time.
When someone asks why I don’t care to argue when parents/grandparents bring up conspiracy theories, the US Government hasn’t exactly made it easy to defend/acquit them. In fact, the entire United Fruit/Chiquita thing is considerably worse than many conspiracy theories I’ve heard.
> The list of CIA coops alone is staggering. Me an Iranian: first time?
> I feel like people don't really understand how much of South America has been fucked with by the USA. The list of CIA coops alone is staggering. lol most US Americans literally believe they are spreading freedom and democracy. Tell a US American that US America is a force of evil that has spread death and misery around the world like no other country since WWII and their head will explode.
The CIA is the largest and most well-funded state-sponsored terrorist group on the planet. I'll say it every chance I get.
For anyone that wants a deep dive into this history, there's a fascinating book you can check out: ["Bananas: How The United Fruit Company Shaped the World."](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2102113.Bananas) For example, in addition to the comment above this, they also contributed to the Cuban Missile Crisis. One of the UFC's executives were related to the heads of the CIA, and after all their fuckery in South America, they felt confident they could extend to Cuba.
Pro-business military dictatorship sounds like the ultimate goal for conservatives in America
Just make it Christian and they’d fund it
Back then the Dulles Brothers were secretary of state and head of the CIA. A while before they were lawyers for Sullivan and Cromwell and advisors to one of their most important clients, the United Fruit Company.
This needs to be higher. United fruit basically just called their old lawyers who subscribed to a then popular theory that all conflicts arose from disagreements between wealthy elites and that the soviet union was behind multiple unrelated left wing movements in South and Central America. Impossible to overstate how much these guys loved Christianity and hated communism.
Unfortunately it's still working out great for these companies, because now they can grow in the US while still using southern country labor to harvest at dirt cheap wages.
So we’ve had to deal with an entire continents worth of people trying to emigrate to the US and Canada, and having to hear a bunch of racists and bigots spout “build that wall” for DECADES all so we could have a constant supply of bananas at Walmart? What a terrible fucking trade.
I don't know man, bananas are really tasty.
Fuck you got me there
But only within like a 36 hour window.
Try to make a banana smoothie without bananas. Checkmate, liberals.
> Reap what you sow. plenty of migrant cheap labor to exploit like children used to clean meat cutting facilities ? sounds like they won twice.
Ding-ding. No one wants to hear that though.
The massive corn subsidizing so we could put corn syrup in everything did that too. Basically ruined traditional farming in central america the prices were subsidized so cheap it was easier to import than have peasants grow it
True story.
The United States government played a large role in helping them do that.
With the support of the US govt IIRC.
The thin veneer of our society hides such routine violence
Banana Wars II: Electric Boogaloo
That jury was just *bananas* ...
How do they benefit from destabilizing countries?
Here's a history lesson: > In the early 20th century, the United Fruit Company had significant economic and political power in Central America, where it controlled large swaths of land and employed thousands of workers. > However, in the 1940s and 1950s, a social reform movement emerged in Guatemala that sought to redistribute land and wealth, improve workers’ rights, and challenge the dominance of foreign corporations like United Fruit. The movement was led by President Jacobo Árbenz, who was elected in 1950 and implemented land reform policies that threatened the interests of United Fruit. > In response, United Fruit lobbied the U.S. government to take action against Árbenz, arguing that his government was Communist and posed a threat to U.S. interests in the region. The CIA was tasked with carrying out a covert operation to overthrow Árbenz and install a government more friendly to American interests. > The coup had devastating consequences for Guatemala, as it led to decades of political instability, repression, and violence. The new government reversed many of Árbenz’s reforms and cracked down on political dissidents and labor activists. And yes, United Fruit (now Chiquita) continued to destabilize the region even into the 2000s, funding conflicts between the government and guerrillas: > During the 1990s and early 2000s, in order to protect its operations, Chiquita Banana began making payments to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing paramilitary group. This group was responsible for numerous human rights violations, including massacres and forced displacement of communities.
Isn't that where the term Banana Republic came from?
I continually am ashamed of the actions of my home country in the lands of others, historically. We suck.. not sure how the US can fix all the BS caused around the planet in the past 160-175 years.
agree with ashamed. The US /CIA are out for the best interest for themselves not the country or region they are meddling in. We are definitely reaping those efforts now at the border and other areas. Its about money and power. It always is with those in powerful positions and weslth.
> The US /CIA are out for the best interest for themselves not the country or region they are meddling in. That's not true. The elite that generally control the purse strings and pay for many politicians in the US do not have the best interests of the US at heart.
thats what I said. Reread what you quoted.
Thank you for this. I was not aware
Creating corruption to drive profits towards them due to strong arming local economies. An incident occurred called [The Banana Massacre](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Massacre) because of that, as Columbia was afraid they would lock off the U.S and European market. The term banana republic was directly named because of the interference of companies like United Fruit and Standard Fruit.
Wow that is so heinous
It is colonialism. They can bribe the government into letting them exploit the workers without paying taxes and then use thugs to kill any workers who resists. I think at one point, they owned 40% of Honduras, which is insane. The US gets a steady supply of exotic fruits, and since the locals cant grow staple crops, they have to buy American wheat.
Somebody always stands to profit from regime change. Those incidents are where the get the term Banana Republic from
There’s always money in the banana stand off
*I don't care for United Fruit Company...*
$0.89/lbs bananas
And they used to do it with the help Of the US military this is where we got the term banana republic
Wait they’re still doing banana republic tactics?
>Chiquita in 2007 confessed in a US court to having financed the AUC from 1997 to 2004, which was then designated as a foreign terrorist organization in the United States… >The group laid down arms in 2006, confessing to crimes and agreeing to compensate victims. The family of the victims persevered after all this time, good for them. Corporations need to be held accountable.
How were they held accountable if they're still in business today?
They paid a fine to continue doing business. “Accountable” appears to mean something else for them.
They accounted for the fines, that's accountability.
Bayer made the gas that killed the jews in nazi Germany, and they are fine.
No. IG farben did. IG farben was a conglomerate of of 6 companies, Bayer being one of those 6. [zyklon b](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zyklon_B) was the gas. There were only 2 businessman that were executed for war crimes. And it was the 2 who came up with the delivery mode for the cyanide.
That was actually a different company, but if it makes you feel better the company that made the crematoriums Topf and Sons went out of business…in 1996.
I feel like crimes such as these should be the only ones eligible for the death penalty. A CEO doesn't care if the company gets fined, but they can't spend their blood-soaked money if their head is detached. The Sackler family would be prime candidates for such a punishment, as an additional example.
2004???? I remember studying this in high school in the 90s as "shit US Government did in the stupidity of cold war" The fucken USSR collapsed and China changed, and these guys were still funding death squads?
Companies did this shit before the USSR ever existed. It's never had anything to do with their bogeyman of Communism, and everything to do with maximizing profits.
The real question is, now that there is an unquestionable guilty verdict- can they be held accountable in an international court for war crimes?
The jury awarded surviving family members $38.3 million in damages for the deaths of eight victims who were killed by the AUC, a group that Chiquita admitted to have financed in a US court in 2007. "The jury accepted the argument that the money transferred to the paramilitaries was used to commit war crimes such as homicides, kidnappings, extortion, torture and forced disappearances." The punishment is not nearly enough to hold Chiquita accountable for all the atrocities they've financed in the process of destabilizing Latin America, but I'm pretty surprised to see them getting any sort of retribution under the law. It's so common to see corporations getting away with everything.
For most big companies like Chiquita, fines and damages on this level are generally considered part of the cost of doing business. And that's always going to be the case for as long as paying the fines is less expensive than complying with the law.
Well, as far as I can tell there's still time for them to appeal, and appeals get you further away from regular people on juries and closer to judges who need to keep political elites happy, so I wouldn't consider it a victory yet, unfortunately. Hope I'm wrong though.
If corporations are "people", then why can't they be jailed or given the death penalty? If a business funds and causes the death of innocent people, then why can't that business be vaporized? Seems like a perfectly reasonable outcome to me
They should pay $38 million to each family in Colombia.
Corporations are people yet if a person was the one who funneled money into the hands of terrorists they would not be let off with a fine.
Send Chiquita to gitmo.
Send the executives of the company to gitmo
Better yet, transfer shared ownership to the victim's families.
Thats what the CIA's entire purpose is..
I had to double take at this headline. *Again?* Did these dumb motherfuckers not learn their lesson after the term "banana republic" was *literally invented to describe the last time this company did this?*
They're a corpo, so no. Lessons don't matter when profits are on the line.
People really need to understand this. Yeah, I get that everybody knows corporations will commit crimes so long as it balances the checkbook, but this is insane behavior with far reaching and long term *international* ramifications. The punishment for this should be as harsh as possible because this has consequences that are so vast and lasting that it will never be accurately recorded. That was a crime against humanity and virtually nothing came of it for anyone at fault.
They're banking on short term memories. Corps can last beyond you and will outlast you if you let them.
That’s it, I’m chippin’ in
On most college campuses the history department is located as far as physically possible from the business and economics departments.
How would they learn a lesson if their only punishment has been paying a fine lol. Imagine paying mercenaries to murder people and not going to jail
They've surely profited more from their crimes than they've ever paid. Fines are just a business expense. Worth noting that in this specific case, one condition they made of their payment was that the names of the individuals who brokered deals with the terrorists would be kept secret. The US State Department and DOJ both rejected calls for extradition of these criminals, as they do every time.
In a previous 'life' they were the United Fruit Company who supported (or got the CIA to support) some really vile Dictatorships :/ "When the trumpet sounded, it was all prepared on the earth, the Jehovah parcelled out the earth to Coca Cola, Inc., Anaconda, Ford Motors, and other entities: The Fruit Company, Inc. reserved for itself the most succulent, the central coast of my own land, the delicate waist of America. It rechristened its territories as the **’Banana Republics’** and over the sleeping dead, over the restless heroes who brought about the greatness, the liberty and the flags, it established the comic opera: abolished the independencies, presented crowns of Caesar, unsheathed envy, attracted the dictatorship of the flies, ....." * From "United Fruit Co." by Pablo Neruda
They got away with it last time and their getting away with it again. How is this teaching them a lesson? It's just a literal cost of doing business.
>The jury awarded the surviving family members **$38.3 million** in damages for the deaths of eight victims. >“This verdict sends a powerful message to corporations everywhere: profiting from human rights abuses will not go unpunished. These families, victimized by armed groups and corporations, asserted their power and prevailed” Chiquita's annual revenue in 2023 was **$3.1 billion**, so the damages constitute about 1.2%, or 4.5 days of sales, of annual revenue. This is not going to do anything to deter them from doing this again.
It's one banana paramilitary, Michael, what could it cost, $10?
Didnt the US help to install these groups at the start?
Corporations don't deserve rights. Terrible stuff done in the name of profits.
They keep doing it because their punishment is a fine and payout. Unless you actually persecute their owners, nothing will change. Expect to be reading these headlines again and again.
Didn't we(the USA) do that though? Shouldn't the CIA be on trial?
Now do Shell and ExxonMobil.
38 million is not justice, it's a slap on the wrist. Chiquita was sold in 2014 for 1.3 BILLION.
Yeah but Hunter Biden’s gun form… *or something* People are glued to the wrong stories, this should be a much bigger deal
Good, they've been guilty of this since the 40's.
Too bad the miniscule fine compared to their revenue isn't going to make any difference at all
People complain about illegal immigration but still vote for foreign policy that destabilizes South America.
These kind of activities is where we get the expression banana republics from.
These activities, from *literally this same company*. The reason United Fruit Company changed it's name to Chiquita was to ditch the bad press from this exact behavior in the mid-20th century.
In addition to stuff already mentioned higher in the thread, they were also behind the [Banana Massacre.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Massacre) It's truly staggering how much pain and misery has been inflicted on South America over banana profits.
Oh history repeating itself I see. I wonder what happened when they did this before. 🤔
I'm sure Nicaragua was just fine.
[This press release](https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2007/March/07_nsd_161.html) has more information about what happened between 1997 and 2004 when the payments took place. Sounds like the AUC met with Banadex and said “nice operation you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it”. The problem, as far as the U.S. government was concerned back in 2007, only started in 2001 after the AUC was designated a terrorist organization, but this Chiquita subsidiary kept making protection payments for three more years despite outside council repeatedly warning them that this was illegal.
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That's fairly 'normal' for wrongful death. Hopefully more suits will follow and the evidence in this suit provides the building blocks for the next.
Since these corporations want to have all the rights of personhood, LOCK THEM UP!
Now fine them the inflation-adjusted amount that they financed the paramilitaries.
The amount they paid the paramilitaries had to be less than the profit they made by "removing the obstacles to profit". Fine them for all profits made during that period and a bit extra.
I'm ok with that too.
I saw corps strip farmers of water... and eventually of land
That's all? They did all that and all they have to do is write a check that they'll make back by the end of the month if not sooner? I feel like I'd be in a little more trouble than that if I was found guilty of funding a murderous paramilitary group but hey 🤷🏾♂️
"And no further actions was taken"
Alternative Title: [“The originators of the phrase ‘Banana Republic’ are still doing their literally Goddamned thing in Latin America.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic)
Woulda been better if they were funding guerrilas
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Lots of cartel fruits and vegetables in American stores these days.
It just makes me think of the Southpark bit with the BP guy going "We're sorry"
If you want to know the fucked up history behind the banana industry, the documentary Banana Land is excellent.
Good fuck Chiquita and fuck the left and right paramilitaries, also fuck Americans for loving Cocaine so much. Legalize the shit. It’s caused so much death and destruction in Colombia.
Holy shit. Finally? If most US citizens knew about our evil bs for corporate interests in South America for hundreds of years, they’d be less surprised people are trying to escape from there.
I suspect there will be an a peel.
Today's category winner for "Headlines You Never Expected to See"
well now he committed a much worse crime than theft. There's a way through FB to find him
They should seize all their assets and put them in prison for life.
Looking forward to the Netflix special…
[Never forget](http://blogs.evergreen.edu/terroir-jahni/why-you-shouldnt-buy-bananas/) they also cause horrible birth defects and infertilities in the local populations.
I like bananas, but not at the cost of human lives or human freedom.
There's always money in banana stands.
Banana Republic strikes again
You wanna end up like Chiquita charlie?!
supporting a banana republic
Big Banana strikes again!
There’s always money in the banana stand, Michael.
law and order has made trader joes raise their cost of bananas
Surprising no one except americans.
Oh course a Mexican banana company is a front to launder money to paramilitaries 🤷🏽♂️
I wanted to work for 'Big Banana' at one time. 🍌
Who knew bloodshed and bananas went hand in hand so closely?
US is holding them liable for something the US aided them in doing and does elsewhere around the world? All in the name of fighting communism.
Crony Capitalism is what runs the planet
Chiquita banana, chiquita banana OBAAAAAMAAA
It’s about time. We’ll never be able to correct the damage we’ve done in Central and South America, but acknowledging it is a start, then admitting that the damage is, in part, responsible for many people leaving their home country out of fear.
At first I read this as: "US jury holds giant Chiquita banana"...
Again? We playing the "Greatest Hits" of history again? We never fucking change, do we?
Chiquita tell us the truth