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In March of 2007, Chiquita Brands International, popular producer and distributor of bananas and other produce, agreed in paying $25 million in fines to the United States Justice Department as a result of being accused of paying more than $1.7 million to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a paramilitary terrorist group. Chiquita began paying the AUC in 1997 and continued until February 2004. As the payments continued, paramilitary killings in Colombia rose both in number and brutality.
In a statement published March 22 in the Chicago Tribune, CEO Fernando Aguirre reveals the motivation behind the scandal: “The payments made by the company were always motivated by our good faith concern for the safety of our employees”.
An ethical dilemma arises as the company chooses between employee safety, and the safety of civilians in Columbia. Chiquita, as a company, needs to offer workplace safety as it is generally considered ‘unethical’ to place workers in a dangerous environment. However, by paying terrorist groups for protection, Chiquita is endangering the lives of innocent civilians, as well as encouraging violence in an already unstable country. In my opinion, Chiquita has been placed in a difficult position—any decision they made would have violated some ‘ethical code’. However, although their employees are indeed protected, I believe that Chiquita does not have the right to place innocent lives at stake. Business is powerful, but I think that Chiquita’s perspective on the importance of business and human has been corrupted. As US Attorney Jeffrey Taylor said, “Funding a terrorist organization can never be treated as a cost of doing business”.
Works Cited:
Evans, Michael. “‘Para-politics’ Goes Bananas | The Nation.”The Nation. N.p., 4 Apr. 2007. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <http://www.thenation.com/article/para-politics-goes-bananas>.
Marx, Gary. “Colombian official seeks U.S. papers on Chiquita – Chicago Tribune.” Featured Articles From The Chicago Tribune. N.p., 22 Mar. 2007. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2007-03-22/news/0703220149_1_chiquita-executives-fernando-aguirre-united-self-defense-forces>.