Editing United Fruit Company (section)

==Aiding and abetting a terrorist organization==
{{Further|United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia}}

In March 2007 [[Chiquita|Chiquita Brands]] pleaded guilty in a United States Federal court to aiding and abetting a terrorist organization, when it admitted to the payment of more than $1.7&nbsp;million to the [[United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia]] (AUC), a group that the United States has labeled a terrorist organization since 2001. Under a plea agreement, Chiquita Brands agreed to pay $25&nbsp;million in restitution and damages to the families of victims of the AUC. The AUC had been paid to protect the company's interest in the region.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0322/p99s01-duts.html |title=Colombia seeks eight in Chiquita terrorist scandal |publisher=CSMonitor.com |date=2007-03-22 |access-date=2016-01-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304044354/http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0322/p99s01-duts.html |archive-date=2016-03-04 }}</ref>

In addition to monetary payments, Chiquita has also been accused of smuggling weapons (3,000 [[AK-47]]s) to the AUC and in assisting the AUC in smuggling drugs to Europe.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://colombialawbiz.com/2010/07/23/chiquita-brands-part-iii-c-of-bananas-money-guns-and-drugs-what-did-chiquita-really-do/ |title=Chiquita Brands Part III-C: Of Bananas, Money, Guns, and Drugs: What Did Chiquita Really Do? |publisher=Colombia Law & Business Post |date=2007-07-23 |access-date=2018-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316151938/https://colombialawbiz.com/2010/07/23/chiquita-brands-part-iii-c-of-bananas-money-guns-and-drugs-what-did-chiquita-really-do/ |archive-date=2018-03-16 }}</ref> Chiquita Brands admitted that they paid AUC operatives to silence union organizers and intimidate farmers into selling only to Chiquita. In the plea agreement, the Colombian government let Chiquita Brands keep the names of U.S. Citizens who brokered this agreement with the AUC secret, in exchange for relief to 390 families.

Despite calls from Colombian authorities and human rights organizations to extradite the U.S. citizens responsible for war crimes and aiding a terrorist organization, the U.S. Department of Justice has refused to grant the request, citing 'conflicts of law'. As with other high-profile cases involving wrongdoing by American companies abroad, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Department of Justice are very careful to hand over any American citizen to be tried under another country's legal system, so for the time being Chiquita Brands International avoided a catastrophic scandal, and instead walked away with a humiliating defeat in court and eight of its employees fired.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032001698.html |title=Colombia May Seek Chiquita Extraditions |work=Washingtonpost.com |access-date=2016-01-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207042937/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032001698.html |archive-date=2016-02-07 }}</ref>