|
|
COLOMBIA:
FAMILIES OF MURDERED VICTIMS SUE CHIQUITA BRANDS IN U.S. COURTS: 07/6/2007 (MaximsNews.com,
U.N.) |
UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com@
U.N./ - 07
June 2007 –
Advocates
for the families of 173 people murdered in the banana-growing regions of
Colombia
filed suit today against Chiquita Brands International, in
Federal District Court
in
Washington
,
D.C.
|
The
families allege that Chiquita paid millions of dollars, and tried to ship
thousands of machine guns to the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, or AUC.
The
AUC is a violent, right-wing terrorist organization supported by the Colombian
army, and was designated a “terrorist organization” in 2001 by the Bush
Administration. Its units are often described as "death squads."
According
to family representatives, the AUC was used to assassinate their husbands, wives
and children, who were apparently interfering with Chiquita's financial
interests.
|
|
In
the last ten years, thousands of people have been murdered by the AUC,
many of them in the banana zones where Chiquita financed the AUC's operations.
"This is a landmark case, maybe the biggest terrorism case in
history," said Terry Collingsworth, director of the Washington, D.C.-based
International Rights Advocates that will serve as lead counsel of the
litigation.
Collingsworth
is already known in
Colombia
for his lawsuits against Coca Cola, Drummond, and Nestle for the targeted
killings of union leaders by the AUC.
The case began with an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which
filed criminal charges in March of this year.
"Chiquita's
victims are living in dire poverty," said Paul Wolf,
co-counsel in the case. Wolf spent the month of May speaking to victims' groups
in shanty towns where families seek refuge from the death squads, which continue
to murder anyone perceived as an enemy.
"Reparations
can't bring back the dead, but there are a lot of widows and orphans with no
means of support," he said. "Most of them have fled their homes,
and don't know where their next meal will come from," he stated.
Chiquita was known as the United Fruit Company.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
~~~~~
MaximsNews.com, An Independent Voice from the
U.N., provides commentary and analysis from
leading world figures: King Abdullah II
(Jordan), HRH Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein
(Jordan), Sir Brian Urquhart, Hans Blix, Amb.
Richard Holbrooke, Anwar Ibrahim, Bianca Jagger,
Dr. Nafis Sadik, Shashi Tharoor, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Noeleen Heyzer, Kerry
Kennedy, Ian Williams, Stephen Schlesinger, Sen.
Timothy E. Wirth, Marc Morial, Amb. Jayantha
Dhanapala (Sri Lanka), Amb. Pierre Schori
(Sweden), Amb. William H. Luers, Susan Roosevelt
Weld, Rory Kennedy, Mehri
Madarshahi, J. Michael Adams, Gloria Feldt,
Jeffrey Laurenti, Rodney D. Smith, Ashley
Bommer, Rory
O'Connor, Genevieve Stamper, Max Stamper and
others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MaximsNews Network® LLC is a Global News Network reaching over 30,000 in the International Community. It is associated with MediaChannel.org and Globalvision News Network, global news and media information services with more than 350 news affiliates in 135 countries.
MaximsNews®LLC is in partnership with the United Nations Foundation and the Better World Fund.
Established in 1999.
The views expressed are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of MaximsNews®
LLC.
MaximsNews.com
U.N. ® LLC News for the United Nations and the International Community -
www.MaximsNews.com
| MaximsNews@MaximsNews.com |
Please
contact us about Republishing:
Syndication@MaximsNews.com ©Copyrights 1999 - 2007, MaximsNews® LLC. All rights
reserved.
|
