Murder and payoffs taint business in Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia -- At first, the allegations in a federal courtroom sounded like the sort of thing conspiracy-minded college freshmen dream up during late-night bull sessions. A major U.S. corporation stood accused of routinely funneling large sums of money to a vicious right-wing Latin American militia that the United States government officially had branded a terrorist organization.

Last month, a U.S. District Court judge formally accepted a settlement of the charges between the Cincinnati-based company and the Justice Department. After pleading guilty to a felony, Chiquita was fined $25 million and required to institute an ethics program to prevent future violations. The company said that it made more than 100 payments to the paramilitaries, which controlled large swaths of Colombia's principal banana-growing region, to protect its workers from attacks and that it earlier had paid left-wing guerillas for the same reason. The Justice Department says the armed groups Chiquita paid are responsible for "a staggering loss of life" in Colombia.

"It may be true (that) you could not operate in these areas without paying the AUC. If it were al-Qaeda, that wouldn't be a defense," says Terry Collingsworth, an attorney with the International Labor Rights Fund, which has filed lawsuits against several corporations, including Chiquita, over their activities in Colombia.

The controversy over U.S. corporate behavior comes as Congress considers a pending trade agreement with this Latin nation of 44 million people. The Bush administration says the deal will expand U.S. exports and cement stability in a key U.S. ally. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and many other Democrats oppose the accord because of concerns about continuing violence in Colombia and the role of paramilitaries there.

Whatever the outcome of the trade debate, fallout from Colombia's decades-long civil war is landing on multinational corporations that conducted business there amid savage battles between left-wing guerillas and right-wing paramilitaries with government ties.

In July, Drummond, an Alabama-based coal-mining company, was acquitted in federal court in Birmingham of charges it conspired with paramilitary groups in the murders of three Colombian trade unionists who worked at one of its mines in northern Colombia. The company, which shipped 23.8 million tons of Colombian coal last year, called the deaths "tragic" and said it maintained a "long-standing policy not to have contact with or pay any money to illegal groups." The International Labor Rights Fund, the union-affiliated human rights group that brought the case, is appealing the verdict, arguing that the judge wrongly prohibited the jury from hearing witnesses to meetings between Drummond officials and paramilitary leaders.