Janice Sevre-Duszynska outside
Chiquita Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Ken Crowley of Witness for Peace
outside Chiquita Center
Thurman Wenzl outside Chiquita Center
( Photos courtesy of Thurman Wenzl)
School of the Americas Watch activist and friend, Ken Crowley, who works for Witness for Peace, was in Cincinnati today. While he was inside the Chiquita Center doing his peace work, I walked outside carrying a poster that read: "Chiquita: make it right for the victims. Life is more than corporate profit." I was joined by Thurman Wenzl whose sign read: "Support Banana Workers’ Unions." During the Chiquita Brands annual shareholders meeting, Ken presented the names of 1,300 concerned citizens and shareholders to CEO Fernando Aguirre calling for him to take decisive measures to respond to ongoing concerns about payments Chiquita made to terrorists in Columbia. The activists demanded Chiquita apologize for the payments, create a multi-million dollar fund for victims of terrorism in Columbia and immediately fire all employees involved in the illegal payments. Witness for Peace, a group that monitors human rights in Columbia, estimates at least 14,000 civilians were killed by Columbia guerillas and paramilitaries while Chiquita made payments to the groups. "For 15 years, Chiquita paid millions in protection money to the two most brutal armed groups in the hemisphere," said Ken."Company executives knew that growing bananas in a war zone was dangerous. Rather than pulling out and risking their profits, they paid vicious killers to protect the business, despite the knowledge that the armed groups they were bankrolling were murdering thousands of innocent civilians." In 2007, Chiquita struck a deal with the Justice Deparment over illegal payments to brutal Columbia paramilitary groups and was forced to pay a $25 million fine. That’s not enough, claimed the event organizers. "Chiquita knew they were paying brutal killers, terrorist groups," said Ken. "Even after their lawyers and the Justice Department told them to stop, they continued payments to ensure continued profits." The activists demanded Chiquita create a fund for victims of Columbia’s war. The fund, they claim, should be equal in size to the profits the company made off of its Columbian operations from 1989 to 2004, the years during which the company has admitted making illegal payments. The group of activists and Chiquita shareholders also demanded all company officials involved in the illegal payments be immediately fired. "They people knowingly provided material support to terrorists and they knew innocent civilians would be killed as a result," said Ken. "They should be in jail, but at the very least they should lose their jobs. What kind of message is Chiquita sending by keeping these individuals on the payroll?"
Janice Sevre-Duszynska, RCWP
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