Bananas for Terror Update

In May of 2004, we did a post on this Chiquita pay-off to the Columbian terrorists. At the time this is what I had to say:

The article seems to suggest that Chiquita paid off terrorists groups in Columbia to prevent attacks on employees and facilities in that country.
...
All that aside, supporting ANY terrorist organization is bad news and somebody apparently knew that what they were doing was not right and should face justice on that issue.

It has now been confirmed that Chiquita has been charged with paying off terrorists in Columbia and has been fined $25 million for doing so.

In court documents filed Wednesday, federal prosecutors said the Cincinnati-based company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers paid about $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as AUC for its Spanish initials.

The AUC has been responsible for some of the worst massacres in Colombia's civil conflict and for a sizable percentage of the country's cocaine exports. The U.S. government designated the right-wing militia a terrorist organization in September 2001.

The worst part is that company lawyers issued a memo indicating that the payments were not proper and should not be made.

Final Analysis: So, instead of a quality starting pitcher for the Reds, Uncle Carl paid off some terrorists in Columbia...