Colombian warlord says US firms paid death squads for bananas
Source: The Guardian - Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent
A jailed warlord has accused the US multinationals Del Monte, Dole and Chiquita of funding rightwing death squads while sourcing bananas from war-torn regions of Colombia.
Salvatore Mancuso, a leader of illegal paramilitary groups, which massacred thousands of people, said each company paid his men one US cent for each box of bananas they exported. Mancuso did not explain why the payments were made but it was common practice for Colombian businesses to pay the paramilitaries a so-called "war tax" - a form of extortion as well as protection against attacks.
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