WASHINGTON — For more than a decade, leftist guerrilla and right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia have kidnapped or killed civilians, trade union leaders, police and soldiers by the hundreds and profited by shipping cocaine and heroin to the United States.
In that time, several American multinational corporations have been accused of essentially underwriting those criminal activities -- in violation of U.S. law -- by providing cash, vehicles and other financial assistance as insurance against attacks on their employees and facilities in the South American nation.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday July 25, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 58 words Type of Material: Correction
Colombian terror groups: An article in Sunday's Section A about American companies making payments to Colombian terror groups said a group of congressmen asked the Justice Department in 2003 to investigate allegations against two Coca-Cola bottling companies in Colombia that had been accused in lawsuits of collaborating with paramilitaries. The companies were dismissed from the suits in 2006.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday August 01, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 4 inches; 81 words Type of Material: Correction
Colombian terror groups: A correction on a July 22 Section A article about American companies allegedly making payments to Colombian terror groups referred incorrectly to lawsuits accusing two independent Coca-Cola bottling companies of collaborating with paramilitaries. The correction, published on July 25, said the bottling companies were dismissed from the lawsuits. In fact, the single lawsuit itself was dismissed on procedural grounds, but the dismissal is on appeal and the companies remain defendants in the case, as the article originally said.
But only one such company -- Chiquita Brands International Inc. -- has been charged criminally in the United States. Now, a showdown is looming that pits some members of Congress against the Justice Department and the multinationals -- including an American coal-mining company and Coca-Cola bottlers.
The lawmakers say that, in the cases of U.S. corporations in Colombia, the Justice Department has failed to adequately enforce U.S. laws that make it a crime to knowingly provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization -- and they have opened their own investigation.
Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), who is leading the effort, has questioned whether the Bush administration is putting the interests of U.S. conglomerates ahead of its counter-terrorism agenda.
Even the plea agreement reached with Chiquita in March -- in which it acknowledged making the illegal payments -- has been criticized as far too lenient by many outside legal experts and some high-ranking Justice Department prosecutors.
"I think they've escaped any kind of appropriate sanctions," Delahunt said in an interview last week.
"We will take a good, hard look at how American multinationals operate around the world, using Colombia as a model," said Delahunt, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight. "It really deserves an exhaustive effort to examine where we need legislation and if there are gaps in our criminal code that allow U.S. corporations to aid or abet violence in other countries that erode our credibility and our moral standing in the world."
