Chiquita sued by FARC murder victim

[Bacchus39]

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/3221-chiquita-sued-by-farc-murder-victim.html

13 March 2009 17:47 Adriaan Alsema



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The Cincinnati-based company provided money and weapons to the group to protect its fruit operations in the country, according to a lawsuit filed today in federal court in Washington. The support helped the Marxist group maintain a terror campaign that resulted in the kidnapping and murder of the consultant, Frank Pescatore, the family said.

"The material support that the defendants knowingly provided FARC substantially facilitated FARC’s acts of terrorism which caused plaintiff’s injuries," according to the complaint. The family is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

Chiquita, which sold its Colombia banana business in 2004, pleaded guilty in March 2007 to paying the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, more than $1.7 million in protection money from 1997 to 2004. The company agreed to pay a $25 million fine and its executives weren’t charged. AUC was FARC’s main enemy.

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Pescatore worked as a geologist at the Cerrejon coal mine in La Guajira Department, Colombia, in December 1996 when it was attacked by FARC guerrillas led by Juvenal Ricardo Palmera, according to court documents. Pescatore was captured, held for ransom and later killed while trying to escape, according to the complaint. FARC preserved his body and held it for two more months before dumping it in an isolated area in February 1997.


this appears to be at least one of the same cases in another thread. Pay particular notice to the second and fourth paragraphs. Pescatore did not work at Chiquita it appears, rather the lawsuit sustains that the fact that Chiquita was paying off the FARC, this enabled the FARC to carry out its murderous activities. this also appears to be the case with the AUC lawsuit.


summarized as such: "The material support that the defendants knowingly provided FARC substantially facilitated FARC’s acts of terrorism which caused plaintiff’s injuries,"