Free Republic

It’s not just in Mario Kart—banana peels can be a real problem for many races around the country, not only causing hazards for runners and spectators, but leaving massive amounts of rotting waste behind for volunteers to clean up. Chiquita, the massive international fruit producer, is taking steps to change that. When the gun of the Walt Disney World 5K went off at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, it signaled the start of Chiquita’s new role as the official banana sponsor of the entire Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, as well as other runDisney events throughout the year. The move...

George Gill hands over the never-published photos of the infant he calls Chiquita. Her fine blond hair arches over her wrinkled, leathery skin. Her arms are wrapped around her, a tiny mouth frozen in an “O.” If she once had another name, Gill wouldn’t know it. After all, Chiquita has been dead for hundreds of years. She is one of only a handful of known infant mummies in existence with a particular birth defect. Two such mummies, Chiquita and one known as the Pedro Mountain mummy, were found in Wyoming. They both hold tantalizing clues about those who inhabited Wyoming’s...

NEW YORK – The Chiquita company – the world's largest banana producer – has so far successfully blocked legislation that would allow 9/11 victims to sue companies that fund terrorists, according to a report. A few years ago Chiquita voluntarily disclosed to the U.S. Justice Department payments made to violent groups, pled guilty to engaging with a terrorist group, and paid a $25 million fine. But the company realized if the 9/11 victims' bill passed, it would open up the company to lawsuits in civil court. Chiquita banana has operated in Colombia for more than 100 years. Chiquita says that...

U.S. banana producer Chiquita Brands International and Ireland's Fyffes have agreed to merge and create the world's largest banana company. The combined company, to be known as ChiquitaFyffes, is set to displace privately-held Dole from the No. 1 spot.

FORT McMURRAY, Alta. -- A radio ad will hit airwaves across the country this week, continuing the call for Canadians to boycott Chiquita Brands International after its decision to boycott oilsands crude. The ad, created by EthicalOil.org in response to the Chiquita oilsands boycott announced last week by ForestEthics, calls on Canadians to boycott Chiquita for its decision to rely on “conflict oil from some of the world’s most odious regimes.” ForestEthics announced Thursday it was working with the U.S. company to eliminate shipping of Chiquita bananas with fuel from refineries that use the crude. “We wanted to call on...

$22 million incentive package helped bring Chiquita to CharlotteBy: Becky Bereiter Updated 1:12 PM CHARLOTTE — More information is being released about incentives package that helped persuade Chiquita Brands International to move its corporate headquarters to Charlotte. Chiquita CEO Fernando Aguirre is not hiding the fact that the $22 million incentives package played a major role in bringing the company to the Queen City. $20 million came from the state and $2 million came from the city and county. Aguirre said in order to get the $22 million in incentives, the company has to meet a number of requirements. Primarily,...

Banana producer Chiquita will pay a $25 million fine and serve five years' probation for once paying millions of dollars to groups in Colombia considered by the U.S. to be terrorist organizations, a Department of Justice spokesman said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Banana company Chiquita Brands International admitted in federal court Monday that for years it paid Colombian terrorists to protect its most profitable banana-growing operation. The company pleaded guilty to one count of doing business with a terrorist organization. The plea is part of a deal with prosecutors that calls for a $25 million fine and does not identity the several senior executives who approved the illegal protection payments. The agreement ends a lengthy Justice Department investigation into the company's financial dealings with right-wing paramilitaries and leftist rebels the U.S. government deems terrorist groups. Prosecutors say the Cincinnati-based...

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said Saturday he favored the extradition to his country of executives of U.S. banana producer Chiquita after the company's admission that it paid Colombian right-wing death squads more than $1.7 million. "That would be normal. Extradition should be from here to there and from there to here," Uribe said. Colombia's attorney general said he would ask the U.S. Department of Justice for full disclosure about the case and would investigate possible links to another case from 2001. In that case, weapons and ammunition were smuggled into Colombia through a port facility operated...

Banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization. Federal prosecutors said the company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers did business with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The group is described in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization.

WASHINGTON — Banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization.Federal prosecutors said the company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers did business with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The group is described in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization. The company also did business with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors. The payments were approved by senior executives at the Cincinnati-based company, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Corporate books were kept to conceal the deals, prosecutors...

Can This Fruit Be Saved? Dan Koeppel “A Banana,” says Juan Fernando Aguilar, “is not just a banana.” The bearded botanist and I are traipsing through one of the world’s most unusual banana plantations, moving down row after row of towering plants and ducking into the shade of broad leaves in an attempt to avoid the Central American midday heat. In an area about the size of a U.S. shopping mall, Aguilar, 46, is growing more than 300 banana varieties. Most commercial growing facilities handle just a single banana type—the one we Americans slice into our morning cereal. The diversity...

A BANANA WAR IN HONDURAS (Senate - June 12, 1990) [Begin insert] Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I would like to bring to the attention of my colleagues to a serious situation which has been developing into a crisis for Honduras. The crisis involves a group of small independent banana growers in Honduras who are trying to break a virtual monopoly enjoyed by Chiquita Brands International, based in Cincinnati, OH. In recent months, the world market for bananas has been expanding dramatically, particularly with the opening of the Eastern European markets. Over the past several months, small banana growers in Honduras...

Chiquita paid rebel groups Company told feds of Colombia payoffs By Cliff Peale The Cincinnati Enquirer Chiquita Brands International Inc. said Monday the Justice Department is investigating payments the company made to Colombian terrorist groups in response to threats against its workers. Cincinnati-based Chiquita, the world's largest banana company, said it voluntarily informed the Justice Department in April 2003 that it made the payments over an undisclosed period of time. Chiquita said the Justice Department was contacted after the company discovered the groups were listed on the State Department's Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. The list names 37 organizations, including...