Alberto Gonzales On Chiquita: Sounds Like Just Another Texas-sized Whopper

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- U.S. Attorney General Albert R. Gonzales appears contradicted by Chiquita Brands International Inc.'s Chairman and CEO Fernando Aguirre, who described the banana company's dealings with federal officials as a " four year dialogue" before it pleaded guilty to paying protection money to right-wing terrorists in Colombia.

Gonzales told Congress in May that the Cincinnati-based company's prosecution resulted from a national security investigative apparatus working "tirelessly to pursue terrorists."

Aguirre's version looks closer to the truth. There was a long delay between the time Chiquita told the government it was consorting with the South American rightists and the eventual criminal charges. The delay clearly allowed time for a "dialogue." But what was said between the offender and the agency responsible for bringing it to justice? No one knows. And that begs another question: Do other crooks "dialogue" in terrorist cases? Or did Chiquita have connections?

Gonzales in May gave the House Judiciary Committee a lengthy written statement that discussed what he called the "important role that the new National Security Division (NSD) has played since it was established." He outlined several criminal cases and included Chiquita among them:

"In just the past few months we have announced noteworthy arrests and prosecutions, such as those of Hassan Abujihaad, a former United States Navy seaman accused of providing information on United States naval battle groud movements to terrorist supporters, and Daniel Maldonado, accused of fighting alongside extremist Islamic fighters in Somalia. We also have announced guilty pleas from individuals such as Tarik Shah, a former martial arts instructor from the Bronx who pleaded guilty to conspiring to support al Qaeda. Further, following a joint U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Commerce investigation, corporations such as Chiquita Brands, which made sizable illegal payments to a terrorist organization, have learned that they are not immune from criminal prosecution."

His full statement is still available on the Justice Department's website.

Chiquita CEO Aguirre wrote a piece for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's business civic leadership center in April that said the Ohio company voluntarily turned itself in and then spent four years talking to the government about its fate -- the "dialogue." Aguirre said Chiquita might never have been caught if it hadn't gone to the Justice Department in the first place.

"So the company decided to do what we believe any responsible citizen should do under the circumstances. We went to the U.S. Department of Justice and voluntarily disclosed the facts and the predicament. the U.S. government had no knowledge of the payments and, and we not come forward ourselves, it is entirely possible that the payments would have remained unknown to American authorities to this day.

"The meeting with the DOJ began a four-year dialogue that culminated with the company pleading guilty to one count of violating statutes in connection with all payments made by its former subsidiary to entities affiliated with right-wing paramilitaries from 2001 to 2004."

Aguirre's account of the "dialogue" with Gonzales' tireless anti-terror operatives is still online in a U.S. Chamber of Commerce e-newsletter.

So far, the Ohio press has been remarkably restrained in its coverage of the Gonzales-led Justice Department's activities. Perhaps things will change.

Earth To U.S. Congress: Please, Ask Questions About Chiquita And Terrorists

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- One of Ohio's corporate giants, Chiquita Brands International, admitted last week it illegally funnelled cash to a terrorist group in Colombia that has been linked to raping, torturing, kidnapping, threatening and murdering foes, including police, prosecutors , judges and members of that nation's elected legislative body. But the U.S Congress isn't asking any questions that would fill in blanks about who at the banana company's downtown Cincinnati headquarters could have signed off on the payments -- or if anybody did.

Chiquita has pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $25 million penalty for its rogue activities with Colombia's AUC, a rightist paramilitary. The U.S. State Department's official 2000 Human Rights Report is HERE and AUC is frequently mentioned in bloody or brutal activities.

These excerpts list what happened to cops, prosecutors, congress members, judges and journalists who crossed paths with AUC in 1999 while Chiquita was paying the paramilitary:

1. "Judges have long been subject to threats and intimidation, particularly when dealing with cases involving members of the public security forces or of paramilitary, narcotics, and guerrilla organizations. Violent attacks against prosecutors and judges continued, and prosecutors, judges, and defense attorneys continued to be subjected to threats and acts of violence. On April 3, specialized jurisdiction prosecutor Margarita Maria Pulgarin Trujillo was killed in Medellin; AUC members were the prime suspects in her killing. Prosecutors reported that potential witnesses in major cases often lacked faith in the Government's ability to protect their anonymity and were thus unwilling to testify, ruining chances for successful prosecutions."

2. "On June 14, the trial of 10 persons suspected of the February 1998 killing of human rights activist Jesus Maria Valle began in Medellin. Valle was the president of the Antioquia Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights. Charges were brought against suspected killers Jorge Eliecer Rodriguez Guzman, Alvaro Goez Meza, Gilma Patricia Gaviria Palacios, Elkin Dario Granada Lopez, Alexander Vallejo Echeverry, and Carlos Alberto Bedoya Marulanda for direct participation in the crime. In August 1999, the Prosecutor General's office issued arrest warrants for AUC paramilitary leader Carlos Castano and Juan Carlos Gonzalez Jaramillo for planning the crime. Castano was indicted in September 1998 for the killing. According to press reports, the first police agent on the case was killed soon afterward; the prosecutor fled the country; and another investigator was killed in September 1999."

3. "In October the AUC paramilitary group kidnapped seven members of Congress, including former Senate President Miguel Pineda and Zulema Jattin, a member of a congressional peace commission, and demanded that the AUC be consulted in the peace process. The Government refused to open discussions with the AUC, but Interior Minister Humberto de la Calle negotiated the hostages' release with Castano."

4. "On May 3, the Prosecutor General's office formally charged AUC paramilitary leader Carlos Castano with the August 1999 killing of renowned journalist, political comedian, and peace and human rights activist Jaime Garzon Forero in Bogota. On January 13, members of the CTI captured La Terraza gang member Juan Pablo Ortiz Agudelo in Medellin on suspicion of having been the gunman in the attack against Garzon. Ortiz remained in detention in Bogota at year's end. In December a group of men claiming to represent the "La Terraza" criminal organization said publicly that they were hired by Castano to kill Jaime Garzon and human rights activists Elsa Alvarado, Mario Calderon, Jesus Maria Valle, and Eduardo Umana Mendoza. They offered to turn themselves in and provide proof of Castano's involvement in return for security guarantees from the Government. There was no public response from the authorities by year's end."

5. "In July the Attorney General announced an investigation into retired army Brigadier General Alberto Bravo Silva, Colonel Roque Sanchez, and three other army officers for failing to prevent a paramilitary massacre of 27 persons in August 1999 in La Gabarra. The investigation was still in progress at year's end. Bravo retired in August 1999 on the orders of President Pastrana. Two of the three army officers are still members of the public security forces. Colonel Sanchez, the regional police commander at the time of the killings, was on trial at year's end. In October the Attorney General's office also charged Colonel Sanchez. On May 3, the Prosecutor General's office formally charged AUC paramilitary chief Carlos Castano with masterminding the May 29 and August 21 La Gabarra massacres in 1999."

6. "On May 25, Jineth Bedoya Lima, a reporter for the El Espectador newspaper, was kidnapped and raped over a period of 10 hours while on her way to interview a convicted paramilitary leader at the Modelo prison in Bogota. Two days prior to her kidnapping, El Espectador received threatening letters against her and other journalists. Carlos Castano, leader of the AUC paramilitary organization, denied that the AUC was involved in the kidnaping."

7. "In February the National Police and the DAS captured north coast paramilitary chief Adan Rojas Ospino in Barranquilla, Atlantico department. Rojas, a key aid to AUC paramilitary chief Carlos Castano, was sought in connection with a series of massacres dating back to the 1980's, as well as to the 1994 killing of a congressman. On February 24, the DAS also announced the capture of Arnoldo Segundo Meza de la Rosa, the alleged chief of intelligence and finance operations for the paramilitary fronts operating in Sucre and Bolivar departments. Additionally, the DAS announced the capture in Monteria, Cordoba department, of an ACCU paramilitary leader.
Paramilitary groups on occasion used landmines and sometimes forced underage combatants into their ranks. Paramilitary forces failed to respect the injured and medical personnel. For example, in November members of a paramilitary group reportedly killed a patient on an ambulance driving from Tibu to Cucuta, Norte de Santander department, and declared the Tibu hospital a 'military objective,' causing several support staff to flee. In late October, presumed members of a paramilitary group kidnapped the same hospital's director, who later was found dead. In late September, paramilitary forces in the Uraba region dragged a wounded FARC member from a Red Cross ambulance and shot and killed her."

Stay tuned: There's more to come.

Chiquita's Colombian Payments: Were Child Combatants Paid With Banana Co.'s Cash?

CINCINNATI ((TDB) -- Human Rights Watch issued a report in 2003 that said the Colombian terrorist group AUC recruited children as paramilitary fighters, and estimated 20% of its force was under age 18. Cincinnati-based Chiquita Brands International admits paying the paramilitary for protection, and pleaded guilty last week to federal charges it dealt illegally with a terrorist organization. Human Rights Watch said AUC's "spectacular growth" as a Colombian military was due, in part, to its use of child combatants.

All of the details of the Justice Department's criminal investigation have not been made public. Chiquita's guilty plea and agreement to pay a $25 million penalty avoided a criminal trial. But the existence of the Human Rights Watch report seems to raise the sordid episode to a whole new level. It doesn't mention Chiquita, but it does mention child combatants. That could mean an Ohio company paid off a violent, armed organization in Latin America that depended on kids as warriors, and used kids to increase its strength as a renegade military power. Perhaps Congress should hold hearings. If an American corporation helped finance an army built on children, the American people deserve to know. If not, the hearings could clear the air.

Below is an excerpt from the HRC's report on AUC and child combatants in Colombia:

Paramilitary Forces

"In 1996, Castaño told Human Rights Watch that he commanded 2,000 armed and trained fighters, an affirmation that was confirmed by Colombian government analysts.49 By 2002, he claimed 11,200 fighters, more than a five-fold increase in just four years.50

"The AUC's spectacular growth is in part due to the recruitment of children tempted by AUC salaries, ranging between 900,000 and 1,200,000 pesos (approximately US $366 to $488) every three months, the frequency many children reported to Human Rights Watch that they were paid.

"Some AUC affiliates have held aggressive recruiting drives that include forcible enlistment. In May 2000, for example, the Southern Casanare Peasant Self-Defense Group was reported to have distributed leaflets calling up young people for 'compulsory military service.' In October 2000, paramilitaries belonging to this group abducted several youths in Puerto Gaitán, Meta, for military training.51 The same group has been alleged responsible for abducting young women for sexual purposes.52 None of the former AUC child combatants interviewed by Human Rights Watch claimed that they were forcibly recruited, however.

"In September 2001, the U.S. State Department put the AUC on its official list of foreign terrorist organizations, where it joined the FARC-EP and the UC-ELN, which had been named previously.53 (The designation requires, among other things, that U.S. banks freeze the accounts of the AUC and its agents.) What followed was a serious shakeup. Within the year, Carlos Castaño and at least two other paramilitaries were indicted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges.54 Castaño announced the dissolution of the AUC, but then claimed the coalition had reunited, albeit prey to divisions over drug-trafficking, a practice that Castaño said he opposed.55

"As part of a mea culpa, Castaño has admitted publicly that profits from drug-trafficking have financed the AUC, a practice he has said he would end.56 Some of the paramilitary groups most implicated in drug-trafficking, such as the Central Bolívar Block (Bloque Central Bolívar, BCB), initially rejected this offer, but later said they would honor Castaño's decision.57

"In an apparent effort to gain political respectability and status as a possible interlocutor in future peace negotiations, the new-style AUC said it would avoid not only involvement in drugs, but also massacres, 'disappearances,' kidnappings, and 'cruel practices' in the future. It would 'respect international humanitarian law to the extent possible in this kind of war.'58

"On November 29, 2002, Castaño sent an open letter to President Uribe announcing that the AUC would cease hostilities unilaterally and indefinitely from December 1 and declaring his readiness to begin negotiations with the government about the terms of a future demobilization. The letter warned, however, that should the guerrillas enter paramilitary-controlled territory, the AUC would exercise its 'right to legitimate defense.' Castaño offered to hand over immediately to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative child combatants who had been 'liberated by the self-defense groups from the guerrilla forces.'59

"A day later, two of the dissident paramilitary groups, the BCB and the Conquerors of Arauca (Vencedores de Arauca), announced a ceasefire beginning December 5. That day, the BCB handed over nineteen child combatants, aged fifteen to seventeen, to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Public Advocate's office, and the ICBF.60 One of the BCB commanders announced that the group would cease to recruit children and would surrender others still in its ranks.61 In June 2003, the BCB followed up by releasing forty fighters--thirty-eight boys and two girls--to authorities.62
That same month, a paramilitary group calling itself the Self-Defense Group of Meta and Vichada (Autodefensas de Meta y Vichada) claimed that soldiers belonging to the army's Seventh Brigade attacked a unit preparing to release child combatants to UNICEF and the ICBF. Eleven paramilitaries reportedly died.63 The office of Colombia's High Commissioner for Peace confirmed that a release of child combatants had been discussed with the group and was imminent. The army denied, however, that its soldiers had killed children.64 An investigation by the office of the coroner concluded that the dead were all adults, and the paramilitary group later acknowledged that its initial allegations were incorrect.65"

"One of the longest-serving paramilitaries we interviewed, a lanky boy named Uriel, told Human Rights Watch that he had lived in a paramilitary camp in the Montes de María region of the department of Sucre. He said that there were about 200 people in the camp, some sixty of whom were children, including some as young as six.66 Another former paramilitary, Óscar, who joined the AUC when he was twelve, said that nearly half of the 800 trainees at his camp were children.67

"Leonel, who was fourteen when he joined the paramilitaries, said that there were another fifty children at the training camp he attended in the department of Valle del Cauca, but he insisted that the paramilitaries didn't train many children. 'In fact, they didn't want me because I was a minor," he said. "They only accepted me as a favor to my contacts.'68 "

"The AUC has not released any data regarding the number of children in its ranks. However, based on the information available, Human Rights Watch believes that the proportion of children in the ranks of paramilitary forces is somewhat less than in guerrilla forces. Based on our research, we estimate that no more than 20 percent of AUC forces, including its urban cadres, are under eighteen, or 2,200 individuals."

Meanwhile, this is what the Justice Department said about AUC:

"Following the company's disclosure, the investigation leading to this prosecution developed evidence that for over six years – from sometime in 1997 through Feb. 4, 2004 – Chiquita paid money to the AUC in two regions of the Republic of Colombia where Chiquita had banana-producing operations: Urabá and Santa Marta. Chiquita made these payments through its wholly-owned Colombian subsidiary known as "Banadex." By 2003, Banadex was Chiquita's most profitable operation. Chiquita, through Banadex, paid the AUC nearly every month. In total, Chiquita made over 100 payments to the AUC amounting to over $1.7 million.Chiquita began paying the AUC following a meeting in 1997 between the then-leader of the AUC, Carlos Castaño, and a senior executive of Banadex. Castaño implied that failure to make the payments could result in physical harm to Banadex personnel and property. No later than September 2000, Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying the AUC and that the AUC was a violent, paramilitary organization led by Carlos Castaño. Chiquita's payments to the AUC were reviewed and approved by senior executives of the corporation, including high-ranking officers, directors and employees."

Ohio's Chiquita Banana And Colombia's Dirty War: Refugees Know The Horror

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Antonio Guterres is hardly a celebrity and the former prime minister of Portugal is definitely an obscure political figure in Ohio, where few would recognize his name. It shouldn't be that way. He is working to clean up an international mess that, it could be said, some Cincinnatians had a hand in creating. Guterres was in Colombia and Ecuador this week doing his job and trying to figure out how to help 3 million people, a mass of humanity that nearly equals the population of Chicago.

Guterres is the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, and he was meeting with government officials and visiting camps where people are suffering. Some of that human misery -- we don't know how much -- happened, in part, because Ohio's Chiquita Brands International Inc. financed paramilitary terrorists so it could safely produce bananas in the middle of an armed struggle that has raged for nearly 40 years. This is what the UN says about the Colombian crisis and the overflow of refugees into Ecuador, where 250,000 have taken shelter:

"Little is known outside the region about this humanitarian crisis, one of the longest and most forgotten in the world today. Mr. Guterres called for the support and solidarity of the international community. He said concrete measures were needed and re-affirmed his commitment to support Ecuador's efforts for peace and development as a crucial step for refugee integration."

Chiquita's March 14 agreement with the Justice Department calls for it to pay a $25 million criminal penalty for consorting with terrorists. That made NEWS in the U.S.

Guterres' trip was hardly mentioned in the press, though it was played up big on the UN portal devoted to shining light on the world's REFUGEES AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED. The UN offered a troubling statistic about Colombia's dirty war, a war that Cincinnati-based Chiquita helped finance. The violence has displaced more people in Colombia than the war in Iraq.

"Some 3 million people are internally displaced in Colombia, representing about 8 percent of the total population of the country. The internally displaced are the biggest group of victims of the armed conflict inside Colombia that has been going on for decades. The humanitarian consequences of the conflict also extend to other countries in the region and notably to Ecuador, where there are an estimated 250,000 Colombian in need to international protection."

More than 40,000 have been killed since 1990. Federal prosecutors say Chiquita paid more than $1.7 million to protect its workers and operations in Colombia, a unit that it sold in 2004. The company said the money went to save its workers. In Colombia, most of the dead in the dirty war between guerrillas, paramilitary organizations and the central government were civilians. There is some recent UN data HERE , and it paints a grim picture about an unstable country that supplied tasty fruits for American snacks.

Apparently, a business in Ohio willingly let its business ethics slip on a banana peel. It sent money to the guys with guns. Now it needs lawyers. A Warren Zevon song said it all about Chiquita's business practices -- lawyers, guns and money, the sh*t has hit the fan.

Federal Prosecutors Say Ohio-based Chiquita Banana Paid Terrorists In Colombia

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Cincinnati-based Chiquita Banana faces federal criminal charges for paying off violent, rightwing groups the U.S. considers terrorists in Colombia. The criminal case is United States of America v. Chiquita Brands International Inc. (07-055, U.S. District Court for the District of Colombia) and was filed March 14 in Washington. The criminal charge accuses the banana company of engaging in transactions with a federally-designated global terrorist group.

Chiquita, a multinational with about 70,000 employees and operations in some 70 nations, said it has agreed to pay a $25 million fine. The company said it cooperated during the criminal probe.

The Justice Department said Chiquita gave a rightwing paramilitary about $1.7 million. The organization is known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia in English, and AUC in Spanish, which stands for "Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia."

According to the criminal case filed by the U.S. government, the banana firm paid what might be described as protection money.

"For six over six years -- from in or about 1997 through February 4, 2004 -- defendant Chiquita, through Bandex, paid money to the AUC in the two regions of Colombia where he had banana-producing operations: Uraba and Santa Marta. Defendant Chiquita paid the AUC, directly or indirectly, nearly every month. From in or about 1997 through on or about February 4, 2004, defendant Chiquita made over 100 payments to the AUC totaling over $1.7 million"

The government said Chiquita has a history of paying terrorists, and slipped money to leftwing Colombian groups from 1989 through 1997 when they controlled territory near its banana-producing operations.

It said the rightwing payments were approved by high-ranking officials, directors and officers and that "AUC was a violent, paramiliary organization led by Carlos Castano. An in-house attorney for defendant Chiquita conducted an internal investigation into the payments and provided individual C with a memorandum detailing the investigation."

According to the criminal charge, senior executives knew that the corporation was paying the AUC even after it had been publicly named as a terrorist group. Still, the money continued to flow, but under new procedures to deliver cash "established by senior executives in Cincinnati."

News is breaking, but CNN had a report earlier this month about Chiquita notifying the financial markets something was amiss. It is HERE , and raises this question: Where were the newspapers and media companies in Ohio?

The company's statement in response to the federal criminal charge is as follows:

"CINCINNATI, March 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Chiquita Brands International, Inc. (NYSE: CQB) today issued the following statement fromFernando Aguirre, chairman and chief executive officer, in response to an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the previously disclosed investigation of protection payments made by thecompany's former banana-producing subsidiary in Colombia.

"The information filed today is part of a plea agreement, which we view as a reasoned solution to the dilemma the company faced several years ago.

"In 2003, Chiquita voluntarily disclosed to the Department of Justice that its former banana-producing subsidiary had been forced to make payments to right- and left-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia to protect the lives of its employees. The company made this disclosure shortly after senior management became aware that these groups had been designated as foreign terrorist organizations under a U.S. statute that makes it a crime to make payments to such organizations.

"Since voluntarily disclosing this information, Chiquita has continued to cooperate with the DOJ's investigation.

"The payments made by the company were always motivated by our good faith concern for the safety of our employees. Nevertheless, we recognized -- and acted upon -- our legal obligation to inform the DOJ of this admittedly difficult situation. The agreement reached with the DOJ today is in the best interests of the company.

"The agreement is subject to approval and acceptance by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Under the terms of the agreement, the company will pay a fine of $25 million, payable in five annual installments. As previously disclosed, the company recorded a reserve in 2006 for the full amount of the fine in anticipation of reaching an agreement. The company does not anticipate that the fine will impact its ability to operate its business."