Colombia mulls extradition of Chiquita executives

A U.S. court on Monday ordered Chiquita to pay the fine after the company pleaded guilty in March to paying protection money to a militia group accused of some of the worst atrocities and massacres in Colombia’s conflict.

Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos joined other officials in blasting the deal as outrageous and demanded the fine go to victims of violence, who are already seeking damages from Chiquita, one of the world’s top banana producers.

“If the conduct of executives at the banana company Chiquita Brands constitutes any crime in Colombia, then we will ask, with the help of the attorney general, for these people to be extradited,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The country’s attorney general said after the March ruling that Colombia would conduct its own investigation.

Colombia’s conflict has eased under President Alvaro Uribe, a Washington ally who has used U.S. military aid to push back guerrillas, demobilize illegal paramilitaries and attack the cocaine trade that helps fuel the violence.

Businesses in Colombia often faced extortion attempts by right-wing paramilitary militias formed in the 1980s to protect wealthy farmers from Marxist rebels who have been battling the state since the 1960s.

While FARC guerrillas are still fighting, more than 31,000 paramilitary fighters have handed in their weapons in a peace deal with Uribe. Paramilitary commanders have been given short jail terms for confessing to crimes and compensating victims.

Investigators are still scouring the country for thousands of victims of paramilitary massacres, who were often hacked up and dumped in common graves.

According to the plea agreement, Chiquita paid more than US$1.7 million starting in 1997 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a violent right-wing group known by its Spanish acronym AUC, which has disbanded under the peace deal.

“It makes no sense here or anywhere that for US$25 million a multinational company can buy immunity,” Interior Minister Carlos Holguin told reporters on Tuesday.

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