Part of the lawsuit is not in dispute. Earlier this year Chiquita admitted one of its subsidiaries paid about $1.7 million to the rightwing paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, which is also known as the AUC. The group is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Chiquita also agreed to pay the U.S. government a $25 million fine. At the time Chiquita defended its actions saying it fell victim to an extortion racket that threatened its employees.

Chiquita spokesperson James Thompson: “The payments made by the company at all times were motivated by the company’s good faith and desire and concern for the safety of all of its employees. Nevertheless, we recognize the obligation to disclose the facts and circumstances of this admittedly difficult situation to the United States government and the Department of Justice.”

But authorities in Colombia have taken a different view. Colombia’s attorney general said in March that he will seek the extradition of eight Chiquita employees allegedly involved in making the payments. The attorney general, Mario Iguaran, said: “The relationship was not one of the extortionist and the extorted but a criminal relationship… When you pay a group like this you are conscious of what they are doing.”

We invited Chiquita to join us today but they declined to come on. However, Chiquita spokesperson Michael Mitchell did send us a written comment. He said in part: “Chiquita Brands International categorically denies the allegations made by the attorneys for EarthRights International. We reiterate that Chiquita and its employees were victims and that the actions taken by the company were always motivated to protect the lives of our employees and their families… Chiquita has already been the victim of extortion in Colombia. We will not allow ourselves to become extortion victims in the United States. We will defend any preposterous suit of this nature vigorously.”

MARCO SIMONS: You know, we’ve litigated a lot of these cases against corporations for human rights abuses around the world, and one thing that often happens in a lot of these cases is that the Bush administration intervenes to tell the courts that these cases cannot proceed, that they will interfere with foreign policy in some respect. And that, to some degree, is a measure of the political power of the corporations involved.

Chiquita, while it is a big player in Latin America and a major fruit producer, is not nearly as large a corporation as, for example, the oil companies that we have sued for murdering protesters in Nigeria. And so, it remains to be seen how much clout they really have in this country. And even if they do get the Bush administration on their side, the courts have generally been pretty dismissive of administration arguments that suing US corporations for recognized human rights abuses around the world really interferes with any foreign policy goals of the United States.