US stayed silent on Chiquita payments to Colombian paramilitaries: report

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Banana giant Chiquita told US government officials in 2003 it was paying protection money to Colombia's paramilitaries but allegedly did not receive clear advice to stop the illegal payments.

A board member of Chiquita International Brands, Roderick Hills, told Justice Department official Michael Chertoff, now the US secretary of homeland security, that the firm was paying a paramilitary group to secure its banana plantations in Colombia and needed advice, the Washington Post reported.

Hills knew the paramilitary group appeared on a US list of terrorist organizations but met with Chertoff in April, 2003, seeking guidance how to proceed, the paper said, citing court records and unnamed sources.

Chertoff, then the US assistant attorney...