Chiquita Brands International has failed to halt a civil lawsuit brought by around 4,000 Colombian citizens alleging that they or their relatives were tortured or killed by local militias funded by the company.
The suit has been pursued in the US under the Alien Tort Statute and the Torture Vistim Protection Act and seeks financial compensation for the victims. It consolidates “thousands” of claims into a single case alleging that Colombian civilians were killed or tortured by Chiquita-funded paramilitary groups in banana growing regions of the country.
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Chiquita has already plead guilty to charges that it paid Colombian paramilitary groups US$1.7m between 1997 and 2004. The company was fined $25m in 2007.
On Friday (3 June), Florida District Judge Kenneth Marra denied Chiquita’s motion to dismiss some of the claims against the company. Chiquita had argued that the case should be dismissed because it could have foreign policy implications.
Commenting on the ruling, a spokesperson for Chiquita said: “It is important to understand that at this stage of the proceedings, the court is required by law to treat plaintiffs’ outrageous and false allegations as if they were true. Plaintiffs now have the burden of proving these allegations.”
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