Claim against Chiquita for funding Colombian death squads to go to trial in U.S.
After almost a decade of litigation, victims of Colombian paramilitary death squads funded by Chiquita are moving forward in a U.S. lawsuit against the banana giant...[F]ederal judge Kenneth Marra rejected Chiquita’s argument that the case should be heard in Colombia rather than the United States...In 2007, EarthRights International and other co-counsel, filed a class action suit against Chiquita Brands International on behalf of the families of thousands of villagers, labor leaders and community organizers murdered by the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, a paramilitary terrorist organization. The suit alleges that Chiquita made illegal, concealed payments to the AUC...The lawsuit also alleges that the AUC shipped arms and drugs through Chiquita’s ports and on Chiquita boats...Chiquita has pulled out of Colombia and now has no operations or assets there. Still, Chiquita argued that it was more “convenient” to litigate in Colombia than the United States. The court rejected this claim, finding Colombia to be an inadequate forum in light of serious security risks for plaintiffs and their lawyers...