I welcome disagreement on IO, but in this case I'm going to ask that the criticism come with alternative suggestions.
"The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crises maintain their neutrality". Disagreement cannot be an excuse for ambivalence regarding the horrendous conditions that the majority of the world lives in. I have discussed Chiquita's case several times before but I will do so again for the purpose of making this a comprehensive post.
The saddest thing for me about Chiquita's admission to paying $1.7 million dollars to identified terrorist groups was my intial reaction. I was shocked by Chiquita admitting to the practice but paying thugs in the South seemed like business as usual to me for multinational corporations. I spent more time giggling at the "revolutionary" paramalitary itunes playlists than mourning the practice of financially supporting bloodshed.
It wasn't until I read an article in the Christian Science Monitor that I felt that I had to take action on this. It was in this article that I first read about the charge that Chiquita might have had a hand in importing 3,000 rifles for a paramilitary group, and it also contained the brutal personal testimony that truly galvanized me.
Alberto is a tall, self-assured man in his early 40s. But his voice drops to a whisper when he says he personally witnessed at least 10 murders on one of Chiquita's 26 plantations where he worked for 11 years.
He vividly remembers the last murder he saw on the Banafinca farm in 1999. When Alberto and his coworkers arrived on the plantation they saw two men known to be paramilitary henchmen standing menacingly near the packing plant. The thugs waited until everyone took up their workstations and then went into the field where one of Alberto's coworkers was climbing a ladder to bag a banana stem. "No one knew who they had come for that day," Alberto says.
The thugs waited until everyone took up their workstations then went into the field where one of Alberto's coworkers was climbing a ladder to bag a banana stem. "They cut off his head with a machete, dumped the weapon, then calmly walked to their motorcycle and drove off, without saying a word," says Alberto, who asked that his real name not be used.
Another comprehensive article on the issue comes from the Miami Herald.
Colombians are asking for the extradition of Chiquita executives (The New York Times reports), which is not an unreasonable request at all when you think about it. Colombia extradites people involved in the drug trade to the U.S. all the time, and the U.S. has shown that it is willing to invade a country that supports terrorists. This article from the World Socialist Website, by Bill Van Auken, is the best that I have found on the subject.
Al Jazeera and the BBC covered a new effort by families afflicted by paramilitary massacres to sue Chiquita. I'm hoping that this move along with the efforts of good people will be enough to bring this the national attention in the U.S. that it deserves. Another person that has to be commended in the struggle against paramilitaries in Colombia is the top prosecutor Mario Iguaran. The Christian Science Monitor, the only media outlet to cover this well, has done a piece on him showing that all it takes is one person committed to good to clean up years of corruption and malevolance.
That's the story as best as I can tell it, but I welcome contribution and criticism from others. I've linked to as many media outlets as I can to let the reader form his or her own opinion. I realize the sources I've linked to are more leftist than I even like to shoot for fear of alienating the broad range of readers I try to appeal to here. If conservatives don't have time to scrutinize every piece than I encourage them to read the conservative Miami Herald piece. I think this is the first time that I link to the World Socialist Website, but I encourage people to read the article on its own merits. I think broader media coverage is the first step on a list of actions that we should take.
Why do we need to take this on? I think this issue is a good one to try and tackle with a blog because one of the biggest problems with this is the lack of media coverage on the subject. This is big news. Multinational corporations are often suspected of committing crimes but rarely do they so blatantly admit to it. If we're going to try and tackle the root of the problems associated with migration, the first thing we're going to have to do is take a stand on the things that are forcing people to leave. Asking companies not to pay groups that butcher the local population is probably a good start.
I will now outline a preliminary action plan.
Step 1: Campaign for Broader Media Coverage.
Most blog readers have blogs themselves or at the very least read several blogs. I made an appeal to some of my closest allies but they seemed reluctant to write probably because they don't usually deal with issues like this or if they do they're very busy as we all are and feel that there is more important information pertinent to their readers to cover. I would like at least 10 blogs to cover this, and if we reach that goal we'll shoot for 100. Individuals can also contribute artwork for this cause or at the very least digg this post. All you have to do is click digg and you've done your part. Once we've assembled a coalition we'll look to garner the attention of larger media outlets.
Other Steps
I know of other steps that we can take to make a difference on this issue, but I'm not going to bombard readers with more than I already have. If you're not satisfied with the step above but still want to contribute, definitely email me at kyledeb at gmail, because there is so much you can do, including buying fair trade bananas at your grocery store. As always feel free to comment and try to sign your name when possible until the comments feature is fixed. I've identified an issue and a preliminary step and I would very much like others to contribute to this and take ownership of this cause.
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