432
submitted 2 years ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Landmark verdict against Chiquita marks first time major US company held liable for funding human rights abuses abroad

A Florida court has ordered Chiquita Brands International to pay $38m to the families of eight Colombian men murdered by a paramilitary death squad, after the American banana giant was shown to have financed the terrorist organisation from 1997-2004.

The landmark ruling late on Monday came after 17 years of legal efforts and is the first time that the fruit multinational has paid out compensation to Colombian victims, opening the way for thousands of others to seek restitution.

It also marks the first time a major US corporation has been held liable for such rights abuses in another country and could lead to a series of similar lawsuits involving rights violations across the world.

all 25 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] thejoker954@lemmy.world 61 points 2 years ago

At a bare minimum any company that helps terrorists or supports any type of human rights abuse should be taken over and made some sort of public commodity.

Like a corporate applied eminent domain. Now all 'profit' goes directly into the community coffer.

[-] Vorticity@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago

Now all ‘profit’ goes directly into the community coffer.

Only after reparations have been made to everyone impacted. I'm sure there were more than eight families who were impacted by Chiquita funding terrorists for eight years and I doubt their abuses were actually limited to those eight years.

[-] Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 52 points 2 years ago

Chiquita ordered to pay 38 million fee to kill people.

[-] Nachorella@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 2 years ago

At least now they actually have to weigh up the costs, before it was free.

[-] TallonMetroid@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

For a large corp 38.3M is chump change, though.

Chiquita Brands International's revenue is $3.1 billion. - Chiquita Brands International peak revenue was $3.1B in 2023.

Yep.

[-] Nachorella@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 2 years ago

You can be negative if you want but this is still a step in the right direction.

[-] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 40 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

If corporations are people (Citizens United) they should be able to be tried and get the death penalty.

Japanese seppuku style for the folks running the company.

[-] JVT038@feddit.nl 30 points 2 years ago

So the price to kill someone is 4.75 million? Got it.

As long as the actual people in charge (read: CEO, CTO, CFO, anyone else on the board of directors and any other executives) aren't held directly responsible with a proper punishment that isn't payment, the killing of people is literally just a fee of 4.75 million dollars.

[-] JASN_DE@lemmy.world 22 points 2 years ago

Good start st least.

[-] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 2 years ago

I need to start a company so I can legally kill people.

You can also just be a police officer in the United States.

[-] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yeah, but I might get held accountable if I kill the wrong race. _cough_white ppl

[-] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 years ago
[-] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 2 years ago

No, maybe a fruit or water company.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 13 points 2 years ago

Fuck that. Take all the managers at the time, everyone who knew about this deal, and throw them all in jail for 8 counts of murder.

[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

all the executives at the company at the time should be in jail or sent to columbia for trial.

[-] ObamaBinLaden@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Where do you put death squads on your PnL sheet?

[-] artichokecustard@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

the banana republic never fell

[-] Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago

"Hey Boeing, hold my beer."

[-] uebquauntbez@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago

Is it bananas or peanuts?

this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2024
432 points (99.8% liked)

News

37266 readers
1307 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.


Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.


7. No duplicate posts.


If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.


All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS