Columbia: High Court rules assets of Chiquita distributed to families of children recruited by paramilitary – UPI

BOGOTA, Dec. 25 (UPI) Columbia’s Supreme Court ruled assets of Chiquita Brand International should be distributed to families of children recruited by paramilitary security groups.

The ruling followed the reopening of a criminal investigation into the multinational company to learn “to what degree” it financed the far-right paramilitary group AUC for “protection” services from 1997 to 2004, the website Colombia Reports said Tuesday.

The AUC is the acronym in Spanish for United Self-Defense Forces of Columbia, an organizing group of forces across the country fighting left-wing insurgency.

The court action is specifically related to child soldiers recruited in the northwest region of Uraba, and is part of a class action lawsuit by Colombian families in the United States claiming Chiquita paid the AUC for security services results in the deaths of civilians.

The lawsuit claims Chiquita used one of its ports to “ship drugs out and smuggle arms in,” Colombia Reports said. Read more:http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/12/25/Chiquita-must-pay-soldiers-court-says/UPI-49471356463157/#ixzz2GBWnrqsT