While The Price of Gas Is Getting Our Attention The Price of Bananas Is Getting Mine

On a recent trip to the supermarket I noticed that the price of bananas is over 50¢ a pound, and in my home that’s a serious expense. Unlike the cause for the drastic increase in food goods related to higher fuel costs and a depletion of food storage reserves through out the world, the high cost of bananas can be attributed to more to the dubious activities of the largest producer of bananas in the world, Chiquita Brands International.

The activities on the part of Chiquita read like a Hollywood drama. Chiquita has pled guilty to   criminal activities during the past 20 years, including monetary support paid to a known terrorist organization. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17615143/).

Chiquita Brands began in 1997, through a subsidiary known as Banadex, making payment to the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (“AUC”). The AUC was and is a dangerous terrorist organization that was created in order to combat other guerilla groups in the country of Colombia. The AUC however was reportedly not limited in its activities to that purpose. Allegedly they engaged in kidnapping and the murder of innocent civilians, as well as drug traffickers. The AUC has been a named terrorist organization every year by the United States since 2001. Most recently Chiquita Banana paid a $25 million dollar federal criminal fine for its activities in Colombia (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5721/is_200705/ai_n23755882)

No wonder bananas are over 50¢ a pound! American corporations should be good corporate citizens, whether they are in Colombia or in the United States and act in an ethical and humanitarian fashion.

http://www.chiquitalawsuit.com/

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml