The Daily Star | Interview: Refugees will not be citizens of new state

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on September 15, 2011, on page 2.

© 2011 The Daily News

Volunteers Needed: Mailing Party for the Committee to Stop FBI Repression

We are putting out a 1300-piece mailing and need lots of people to help us mail out our fundraising letter & flyer for our 9/24 protest. It is great way to get to know the activists in the struggle against political repression! The mailings will happen at the Anti-War Committee office, 1313 SE 5th St #112, Minneapolis, 55414.  There will be pizza.

Organized by the MN Committee to Stop FBI Repression.  

Volunteers Needed: Mailing Party for the Committee to Stop FBI Repressio

We are putting out a 1300-piece mailing and need lots of people to help us mail out our fundraising letter & flyer for our 9/24 protest. It is great way to get to know the activists in the struggle against political repression ! The mailings will happen at the Anti-War Committee office, 1313 SE 5th St #112, Minneapolis, 55414. There will be cake.

Organized by the MN Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

FightBack! News | President Obama met by anti-war protest in Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN – More than 200 protesters met President Obama outside the Convention Center here, Aug. 30, where he spoke to a gathering of the American Legion. The demonstration was initiated by the Minnesota Committee to Stop FBI Repression and endorsed by a wide range of local progressive organizations.

Last fall, five Twin Cities homes and the offices of the Anti-War Committee were raided by the FBI as part of the Department of Justice attack on anti-war activists.

Jess Sundin, one of the raided activists, said, “In his address to the American Legion, the president sought support for his policies of war. Outside the hall, protesters, including organizations of veterans and military families whose voices exposed the human costs of these wars, not only on the people of Afghanistan or Iraq, but also on the troops sent to fight these wars.”

She added, “We are coming out to protest because Obama’s policies of endless war and Wall Street bail outs have failed to meet the needs of the majority of people at home, while costing countless lives abroad. We stand up together to support our community members who have been targeted with repression for speaking out against these policies. We demand an end to attacks on activists, an end to U.S. wars, occupations and bombings around the world and we demand funding of human needs here in our own country.”

Angel Buechner spoke for the Welfare Rights Committee: “Instead of beating down the doors of activists who are standing up against these criminal wars, Obama should be beating down the doors of these filthy rich people who are making profits from the war and getting richer at our expense! Instead of spending precious resources to try to shut up those who oppose the U.S. government’s foreign policy, Obama should be creating jobs, providing health care and housing for everyone in need.”

Mike Perkins of the Minnesota chapter of Military Families Speak Out stated, “We are here in support of our courageous friends of the Anti-War Committee and to ask President Obama to step up and remove the cloud that hangs over those who are being unjustly persecuted by the FBI for the crime of demanding peace and justice for all people. Our son went to Baghdad in January 2004 to find Iraq’s WMD and protect us from them. Almost immediately he realized, as did most of his buddies, that there were no WMD’s in Iraq and all they were doing there was making more people who wanted to attack us. This made him angry because his friends were dying for no good reason. He lost two very close friends there – who are but two of the more than 4790 who have died so far in an unjust war started by dishonest politicians.”

After rallying at the Convention Center plaza, protesters moved to a nearby street where Obama’s departing motorcade was expected to pass. Protesters chanting, “From Colombia to Palestine, solidarity is not a crime,” were pushed about half a block from where they had assembled, but were still visible when the motorcade went by.

Endorsers included: the Anti-War Committee, Alliant Action, Communities United Against Police Brutality, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, MN Peace Action Coalition, MN Military Families Speak Out, MN Immigrant Right Action Committee, MN Iraq Vets Against War, Socialist Action, Socialist Alternative, Tackling Torture at the Top, TC Avengers, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, U of M Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Veterans for Peace Chapter 27, WAMM, Welfare Rights Committee and the Women’s Student Activist Collective (U of M).

Antiwar.com | State Dept Threatens Prison for US Participants in Gaza Aid Flotilla

Published on June 24, 2011 by Antiwar.com

Says Aid Ships ‘Conspiring to Deliver Material Support’ to Hamas

by Jason Ditz

Israeli officials have been ratcheting up their rhetoric in demanding that the world unite to stop humanitarian aid from being delivered to the people of the Gaza Strip, calling such attempts an existential threat to Israel and a “deliberate provocation” by the world.

While this hasn’t resulted in European nations or others stopping humanitarian groups from moving forward with the aid, it has shifted the Obama Administration’s position from opposition to open threats.

Now, the US State Department is not only railing against the flotilla as “irresponsible” but is threatening criminal charges against American participants, claiming that the attempt to deliver aid to Gaza amounts to “conspiring to deliver material support” to Hamas and could lead to lengthy prison sentences.

Gaza aid ships have often had a solid American contingent, and an American was among those killed when Israeli troops attacked the Mavi Marmara for attempting to deliver wheelchairs to the strip. Though the administration apparently believes it can invoke terror charges, it is unclear how eager they would be to actually test such a move in open court.

 

Protest: Stop the Bombing of Libya! Funds for Jobs, Housing & Human Needs, Not War!

Monday, June 27th @ 4:30 PM @ Mayday Plaza, Cedar Ave. & 3rd Street, West Bank, Minneapolis

Be part of a visible anti-war presence with signs and banners – Say NO the U.S./NATO war on Libya. Demonstrations to protest the continued US/NATO bombing of Libya will be held in cities across the U.S. on Monday, June 27.

There have now been over 10,000 air sorties carried out by NATO against Libya. In mid-June NATO launched 157 bombing attacks on Tripoli on a single day.  It is clear that the US/NATO goal in Libya has nothing to do with protecting civilians.  The US/NATO war on Libya is increasingly understood as part of an effort of the Western powers to contain and rollback the Arab Revolution.

Endorsed by: Anti-War Committee, Emergency Committee to Stop U.S./NATO War on Libya, Students for a Democratic Society (U of M), Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Women Against Military Madness.  For more information: 612 827-5364 or 612 522-1861

Common Dreams | Rabbis, Palestinians, Activists Stage Die-In Outside AIPAC Conference Arrests as President Obama Speaks

Published on Sunday, May 22, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

WASHINGTON — Rabbis, Palestinians, activists with the peace group CODEPINK and others from the Jewish peace community protested outside of AIPAC Conference as President Obama gave his keynote speech; one protester was arrested as the presidential motorcade entered the Convention Center. Brian Van Slyke, a 23 year old student from Chicago, currently being detained after unintentionally entering the street as the motorcade passed, was roughed up by police officers, his charges are yet to be disclosed. At least a dozen protesters , with the MoveOver AIPAC conference and protests, funneled into the street after Van Slyke’s arrest, effectively closing down the intersection while performing a “die-in” covered in bloody cloths. Activists from the group US Boat to Gaza have mounted a boat float with dozens of people, singing and chanting.

The protests at the DC Convention (9th St and Massachusetts Ave, NW ) will continue throughout the day.

“The Obama Administration must encourage an end to illegal settlement construction and support the Palestinian unity government,” says Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and co-organizer of the MoveOverAIPAC conference and protests. “His ‘mutually agreed upon swaps’ for land won’t get us anywhere closer to peace if Israel does not have to acknowledge the Palestinian’s legitimately elected government.”

“This conflict has been going on for longer than I can remember; it’s time for a paradigm shift. Unfortunately the President’s speech did not have more substance to actually get Palestinians and Israelis to the peace he insists is

possible. The speech did not go to the heart of the conflict, which is the occupation” says Andy Shallal, DC artist and activist.

This day-long event is part of a conference that calls for a new American foreign policy in the Middle East and challenges the Israeli lobby’s siege of Congress. Termed “Move Over AIPAC,” the Conference is organized Organized by CODEPINK: Women for Peace and endorsed by over 100 peace and justice groups.

 

 

 

AlterNet | As a Holocaust Survivor, AIPAC Doesn’t Speak for Me

By Hedy Epstein, AlterNet

Published on April 27, 2011, by AlterNet

The vicious discrimination brought to bear against Palestinians in the occupied territories deserves no applause from members of Congress attending the AIPAC conference.

Take action by attending Move Over AIPAC, a gathering in Washington DC from May 21-24, 2011, to expose AIPAC and build the vision for a new US foreign policy in the Middle East! More information can be found at www.MoveOverAIPAC.org.

At the end of one of my first journeys to the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2004, I endured a shocking experience at Ben-Gurion Airport. I never imagined that Israeli security forces would abuse a 79-year-old Holocaust survivor, but they held me for five hours, and strip-searched and cavity-searched every part of my naked body. The only shame these security officials expressed was to turn their badges around so that their names were invisible.

The only conceivable purpose for this gross violation of my bodily integrity was to humiliate and terrify me. But it had just the opposite effect. It made me more determined to speak out against abuses by the Israeli government and military.

Yet my own experience, unpleasant as it was, is nothing compared to the indignities and abuses heaped on Palestinians year after year.  Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is based not on equal rights and fair play, but on what Human Rights Watch has termed a “two-tier” legal system – in other words, apartheid, with one set of laws for Jews and a harsh, oppressive set of laws for Palestinians.

This, however, is the legal system and security state AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) will defend from May 22-24 at its annual conference.  And, despite this grim reality, members of Congress will converge to hail AIPAC and Israel.  The Palestinians’ lack of freedom is bound to be obscured at the AIPAC conference with its obsessive focus on security and shunting aside of anything to do with upholding fundamental Palestinian rights.

Several years ago near Der Beilut in the West Bank, I saw the Israeli police turn a water cannon on our nonviolent protest. As it happened, I recalled Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 and wondered why an ostensibly democratic society responded to peaceable assembly by trying, literally, to drown out the voice of our protest.

In Mas’ha, also in the occupied West Bank, I joined a demonstration against the wall Israel has built, usually inside the West Bank and occasionally towering to 25 feet in height. I saw a red sign warning ominously of “mortal danger” to any who dared to cross in an area where it ran as a fence. I saw Israeli soldiers aiming at unarmed Israelis, Palestinians and international protesters. I also saw blood pouring out of Gil Na’amati, a young Israeli whose first public act after completing his mandatory military service was to protest against the wall. I saw shrapnel lodged in the leg of Anne Farina, one of my traveling companions from St. Louis. And I thought of Kent State and Jackson State, where National Guardsmen opened fire in 1970 on protesters against the Vietnam War.

So as AIPAC meets and members of Congress cheer, I hold these images of Israel in my mind and fear AIPAC’s ability to move US policy in dangerous directions. AIPAC does a disservice to the Palestinians, the Israelis and the American people. It helps to keep the Middle East in a perpetual state of war and this year will be no different from last year as it keeps up a steady drumbeat calling for war against Iran.

AIPAC pretends to speak for all Jews, but it certainly does not speak for me or other members of the Jewish community in this country who are committed to equal rights for all and are aware that American interventionism is likely to bring further disaster and chaos to the Middle East.

Israel, of course, would not be able to carry out its war crimes against civilians in Lebanon and Gaza without the United States – and our $3 billion in military aid – permitting it to do so. At 86 years old, I use every ounce of my energy to educate the American public about the need to stop supporting the abuses committed by the Israeli government and military against the Palestinian people. Sometimes there are people who try to shout me down and scream that I am a self-hating Jew, but most of the time the audience is receptive to hear from someone who survived the Holocaust and now works to free the Palestinians from Israeli oppression.

The vicious discrimination brought to bear against Palestinians in the occupied territories deserves no applause from members of Congress attending the AIPAC conference.  Instead, they should raise basic questions with Israeli officials about decades of inferior rights endured by Palestinians both inside Israel and the occupied territories. As for me, I will be across the road at an alternative convention called Move Over AIPAC. To sign up and join me, visit www.MoveOverAIPAC.org.

Take action by attending Move Over AIPAC, a gathering in Washington DC from May 21-24, 2011, to expose AIPAC and build the vision for a new US foreign policy in the Middle East! More information can be found at www.MoveOverAIPAC.org.

Hedy Epstein is a Holocaust survivor, who writes and travels extensively to speak about social justice causes and Middle Eastern affairs.

© 2011 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

The National Security Archives | The Chiquita Papers

 

Published by The National Service Archive on April 7, 2011

 

 

Banana Giants Paramilitary Payoffs Detailed in Trove of Declassified Legal, Financial Documents

• Evidence of Quid Pro Quo with Guerrilla, Paramilitary Groups Contradicts 2007 Plea Deal
• Colombian Military Officials Encouraged, Facilitated Companys Payments to Death Squads
• More than 5,500 Pages of Chiquita Records Published Online by National Security Archive

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 340
Posted – April 7, 2011
By Michael Evans
For more information contact:Michael Evans – 202/994-7029 or by email

Bogotá, Colombia, April 7, 2011 – Confidential internal memos from Chiquita Brands International reveal that the banana giant benefited from its payments to Colombian paramilitary and guerrilla groups, contradicting the company’s 

with U.S. prosecutors, which claimed that the company had never received “any actual security services or actual security equipment in exchange for the payments.” Chiquita had characterized the payments as “extortion.”

These documents are among thousands that Chiquita turned over to the U.S. Justice Department as part of a sentencing deal in which the company admitted to years of illegal payments to the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC)–a State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization–and agreed to pay a $25 million fine. The Archive has obtained more than 5,500 pages of Chiquita’s internal documents from the Justice Department under the Freedom of Information Act and is publishing the entire set online today. Key documents from the Chiquita Papers are included in the recently-published document collection, Colombia and the United States: Political Violence, Narcotics, and Human Rights, 1948-2010, now available as part of the Digital National Security Archive from ProQuest.

The documents provide evidence of mutually-beneficial “transactions” between Chiquita’s Colombian subsidiaries and several illegal armed groups in Colombia and shed light on more than a decade of security-related payments to guerrillas, paramilitaries, Colombian security forces, and government-sponsored Convivir militia groups. The collection also details the company’s efforts to conceal the so-called “sensitive payments” in the expense accounts of company managers and through 

. The Justice Department investigation concluded that many of Chiquita’s payments to the AUC (also referred to as “Autodefensas” in many of the documents) were made through legal Convivir organizations ostensibly overseen by the Colombian army.

New evidence indicating that Chiquita benefited from the illicit payments may increase the company’s exposure to lawsuits representing victims of Colombia’s illegal armed groups. The collection is the result of an Archive collaboration with George Washington University Law School’s International Human Rights and Public Justice Advocacy Clinics and has been used in support of a civil suit brought against Chiquita led by Earth Rights International on behalf of hundreds of Colombian victims of paramilitary violence.

“These extraordinary records are the most detailed account to date of the true cost of doing business in Colombia,” said Michael Evans, director of the National Security Archive’s Colombia documentation project. “Chiquita’s apparent quid pro quo with guerrillas and paramilitaries responsible for countless killings belies the company’s 2007 plea deal with the Justice Department. What we still don’t know is why U.S. prosecutors overlooked what appears to be clear evidence that Chiquita benefited from these transactions.”

The company’s effort to conceal indications that it benefited from the payments is evident in a pair of legal memos from January 1994. The 

indicates that leftist guerrillas provided security at some of Chiquita’s plantations. The general manager of Chiquita operations in Turbó told company attorneys that guerrillas were “used to supply security personnel at the various farms.” A handwritten annotation on a  asks, “Why is this relevant?” and, “Why is this being written?” Throughout the document, lawyers have crossed out the word “transactions”–suggestive of a quid pro quo arrangement–and replaced it with the more neutral term “payments.” Company accountants characterized the expenditures as “guerrilla extortion payments” but recorded them in the books as “citizen security,” according to these memos. (Note 1)

shows that Chiquita also paid right-wing paramilitary forces for security services–including intelligence on guerrilla operations–after the AUC wrested control of the region from guerrillas in the mid-1990s. The March 2000 memo, written by Chiquita Senior Counsel Robert Thomas and based on a convesation with managers from Chiquita’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Banadex, indicate that Santa Marta-based paramilitaries formed a front company, Inversiones Manglar, to disguise “the real purpose of providing security.” (Note 2)

Ostensibly an agricultural export business, Inversiones Manglar actually produced “info on guerrilla movements,” according to the memo. Banadex officials told Thomas that “all other banana companies are contributing in Santa Marta” and that Chiquita “should continue making the payments” as they “can’t get the same level of support from the military.”

The Chiquita Papers also highlight the role of the Colombian military in pressuring the company to finance the AUC through theConvivir groups and in facilitating the illegal payments.

One indication of this is found in 

in September 2000 describing the 1997 meeting where notorious AUC leader Carlos Castaño first suggested to Banadex managers that they support a newly-established Convivir called La Tagua del Darien. According to the memo, the Banadex officials said that they had “no choice but to attend the meeting” as “refusing to meet would antagonize the Colombia military, local and state govenment officials, and Autodefensas.” (Note 3)

Among the officials most supportive of the Convivir groups during this time was Álvaro Uribe, then the governor of Antioquia, the hub of Chiquita’s operations in Colombia. Thomas’ September 2000 memo notes that, “It was well-known at the time that senior officers of the Colombian military and the Governor of the Department of Antioquia were campaigning for the establishment of a Convivir organization in Uraba.” A 

indicates that both Uribe and another politician, Alfonso Nuñez, received substantial donations from another of Chiquita’s Colombian subsidiaries, Compañía Frutera de Sevilla. Uribe was president of Colombia from 2002-2010.

Later that year, an 

written on Chiquita letterhead says that the company was “member[s] of an organization called CONVIVIR Puntepiedra, S.A.,” which the author characterizes as “a legal entity in which we participate with other banana exporting companies in the Turbó region.” The memo says that the “sole function” of the the Convivir was “to provide information on guerrilla movements.”

The company had been making sensitive security payments for years–first in the form of direct payoffs to military officers and guerrilla groups, then through local trade organizations and the Convivir militias. For 1991, some $15,000 worth of “sensitive payments” to various units of the Colombian military 

a more than $31,000 disbursement to “Guerrilla.” A 

different version of the same document

omits the names of the payment recipients but includes a handwritten annotation next to the “Guerrilla” entry that says, “Extortion Payment.” Another annotation reads, “Mainly not illegal payments — these are legal — pay gasoline, army, police, politicians — payment doesn’t provide anything or benefits.” [Emphasis added.]

Accounting records from 1997-1998 also point to the role of Colombian security forces in encouraging the company’s illegal paramilitary payments. Beginning in the second quarter of 1997 and continuing through the second quarter of 1998, 

for Banadex record large payments to “Convivir” as “Donation to citizen reconaissance group made at request of Army.” Similar records from  and  list Convivir payments alongside disbursements to “Military and Police Officials” for “Facilitating payments for security services.”

Another handwritten document from 1999 reveals an apparent effort by a Colombian Army general to establish himself as an intermediary for the paramilitary payments. 

(transcribed ) describes a “General in the zone for several years” who had been accused of being “with [a] death squad” by the mayor of San José de Apartadó (Note 4) and had been “suspended from the Army.” The document notes that the general had “helped us personally” with “Security” and “information that prevented kidnaps.” The notes make oblique reference to a $9,000 payment, adding that “Other companies are putting in their…”

“The Chiquita Papers reinforce the idea that, by 1997, the AUC ran the show in the banana-growing regions of northern Colombia, and that local government officials, military officers, and business leaders supported their paramilitary operations,” said Evans.

“These troublesome revelations are more than academic,” said Professor Arturo Carrillo, Director of GW’s International Human Rights Clinic. “They reinforce the claim, advanced in half a dozen federal lawsuits currently pending against Chiquita, that the company was knowingly complicit in, and thus liable for, the atrocities committed by the AUC in Urabá while on the Chiquita payroll. One can only hope that the revealing information obtained and published by the National Security Archive will lead to greater accountability for Chiquita’s criminal actions in Colombia, since the company’s plea agreement with the Justice Department, which has refused to prosecute Chiquita executives for wrongdoing, amounts to little more than a slap on the corporate wrist.”

“The publication of these documents is just the beginning,” added Evans. “The thousands of pages of financial and legal records included in this collection are the seeds of future research projects for investigators prepared to deconstruct the complex web of legal, psuedo-legal, and illegal entities involved in Chiquita’s security operations, including military officers, guerrillas, paramilitary thugs, prominent businessmen, trade associations, and Convivir militias.”

 

---

The Chiquita Papers – A Selected Chronology

The following is a chronological list of some of the most interesting documents in the Chiquita Papers as selected by the National Security Archive.

– First of many Chiquita memos on the subject of “Accounting for Sensitive Payments.”

– Lists “Sensitive Payments” for Chiquita subsidiary Compañía Frutera de Sevilla in 1991, including disbursements to the Naval Station, Operative Command, the Army in Turbó, and the Guerrilla. Purpose for all: “Expedite Turbo operation.” [See.]

– Chiquita legal memo on whether support for Colombian military counterinsurgency operations through a “trade association of banana exporters” known as Fundiban is a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

– Some $15,000 worth of “sensitive payments” to various units of the Colombian military are listed alongside a more than $31,000 disbursement to “Guerrilla.” A 

different version of the same document

omits the names of the payment recipients but includes a handwritten annotation next to the “Guerrilla” entry that says, “Extortion Payment.” Another annotation reads, “Mainly not illegal payments — these are legal — pay gasoline, army, police, politicians — payment doesn’t provide anything or benefits.” [Emphasis added.]

– Transcription of voicemail left for Chiquita’s general counsel from contact in Medellín, Colombia.

– A handwritten note based on discussion with Chiquita in-house counsel notes indicates that company has begun to channel its security payments to the Colombian Army through a “banana association” in Turbó known as “Agura” at a price of three cents per box of bananas shipped.

– Draft legal memo describes reporting of transactions in Turbó and Santa Marta for “security purposes and payments to the respective trade association.” The outlays are described as “guerrilla extortion payments” made through “our intermediary or Security Consultant, Rene Osorio,” who is said to be the company’s “contact with the various guerrilla groups in both Divisions.” The guerrilla payments are called “citizen security” and are “expensed via the Manager’s Expense Account.” The author of the memo was told by the General Manager in Turbó “that the Guerrilla Groups are used to supply security personnel at the various farms.”

– Second draft of January 4, 1994, memo includes annotations asking, “Why is this relevant?” and, “Why is this being written?”

- Memo from Chiquita counsel (Medellín) to Chiquita in-house counsel discusses Colombian legal standards in cases of kidnapping and exotortion; notes that Constitutional Court decision that “when a person acts under one of the justified circumstances” they act in a “State of Necessity” and “cannot be penalized.”

– Chiquita memo describes payments to Álvaro Uribe ($5935 on Oct. 24, 1994) and Alfonso Nuñez ($2000 on Oct. 30, 1994), both candidates for governor of Antioquia.

– Memo from local outside counsel (Medellín) to Chiquita in-house counsel discusses application of Colombian law in cases of extortion and finds that “when one acts in a state of necessity, no punishment will be applied.” … “In other words, a person who pays for extortion is a victim, not an accomplice to the crime, and therefore cannot be punished.”

– Handwritten notes: “Spent approx $575,000 over last 4 years on security payments = Guerrilla payments”; “$222,000 in 1996 — $21,763 Convivir – Rest guerrillas”; “Budget for 1997 — $80,000 Guerrillas — $120,000 Convivir”; “[Deleted] indicates Convivirs legal”; “Not FCPA issue”
…
“Cost of doing business in Colombia – Maybe the question is not why are we doing this but rather we are in Colombia and do we want to ship bananas from Colombia.”
“Need to keep this very confidential – People can get killed.”

– Sensitive payment schedules for Banadex record large payments to “Convivir” as “Donation to citizen reconaissance group made at request of Army.”

– In-house attorney handwritten notes regarding “Convivir”:
“CONVIVIR PUNTE PIEDRA, S.A.”
“(We have our own)”
“Organismo Juridico … Participamos con las otras bananeras. (We were last to participate)”
“We pay [cents]0.03/box. Wk 18/1997 – Wk 17/199[8?]”
“Under military supervision. Proporcionan información and some are armed (but they’re not paramilitary groups?). Radios, motorcycles”
“Legalmente operan en Colombia”
“Negotiate through a lawyer. We are not shareholders. We don’t know who the owners are. Pushed by the gov’t locally and the military.”

– Memo written Chiquita in-house counsel says, “we currently are members of an organization called CONVIVIR Puntepiedra, S.A., a legal entity in which we participate with other banana exporting companies in the Turbo region. Banadex currently pays $0.03 per box to this CONVIVIR.” Memo also says that the Convivir “operate under military supervision (and have offices at the military bases)” and that “their sole function is to provide information on guerrilla movements.”

– Memo from local outside counsel (Baker & McKenzie) regarding “Payments to guerrilla groups” in response to Chiquita query regarding legal consequences of such payments “in case of extortion or kidnapping.” Baker memo highlights Colombian Constitutional Court challenge to 1993 law that made it a crime for foreign companies to pay extortion/ransom and that “necessity” is a condition under which such payments are permitted. However, the memo also says that “he who obtains personal benefit from a state of necessity … incurs in a criminal action.”

– In-house counsel notes discuss former Colombian “general” forced out of military for supposed association with “death squads.” Notes indicate that the officer “helped us personally” with “security” and “information that prevented kidnaps.” Notes also say that “Turbo improved while he was there.” Note also refers obliquely to $9,000 payment.

– Chiquita in-house counsel handwritten notes about front company set up by paramilitaries in Santa Marta to collect security payments from Banadex.
“disguised the real purpose of providing security”
“don’t know who the shareholders are”
“Same people who formed Convivir formed this new company; govt won’t permit another Convivir; too much political pressure re: para-military”
“Don’t know whether the gov’t is aware what this organization does.”
“Military in Santa Marta may know what this company does. Military won’t acknowledge formally that they know what the corporation does.”
“Note: In Turbo we issue a check to Convivir [or/of] another code name and deliver it to a variety of intermediaries for transfer to Convivir.”
“Tagua del Darien is name of cooperative formed as part of Convivir movement.”
“Santa Marta  3[cents]/box; first payment in October 1999. Money for info on guerrilla movements; info not given to gov’t military.”
“Checks made out to Inversiones Manglar SA à Asociacion Para la Paz Del Magdalena.”
“Natural persons w/ no affiliation to military formed Inversions Manglar S.A.”
“[Deleted] says we should continue making the payments; can’t get the same level of support from the military.”

– Draft memo details initial meetings between paramilitaries and Banadex officials.

– Outside local counsel (Posse, Herrera & Ruiz) provides legal analysis of Convivir organizations: “We should underline that the legality of payments, is subject to the due observance of the requisites described above. In addition the actual use … of contributed funds should be borne in mind. If funds are used for the conduction of activities that comply with legal requirements, legality of such payments will be preserved. However, if funds are used in connection of activities beyond the scope authorized … including the conductions of activities that are contrary to law, the actual (or even constructive) knowledge of such activities by the contributing party may taint such payments as illegal and even result in criminal prosecution.”

– PowerPoint presentation on options for how to conceal improper payments.

– Chiquita turns over attorney-client privileged documents to Dept. of Justice. Memo from counsel Kirkland & Ellis describes scope and limitations of the documents provided.

– The U.S. Department of Justice reaches a plea deal with Chiquita for making payments to the AUC, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

---

Notes

1. A 

drawn up by Chiquita’s U.S. counsel specifically warned that an extortion defense would not apply in situations where the company actually benefited from the payments. Another legal memo from the company’s 

attorneys in Colombia

cautioned that payments to ostensibly legal Convivir militias could be considered illegal if there were actual or constructive knowledge that they were connected to illegal activities.

2. Although Thomas’ name does not appear in any of these records, his authorship has been confirmend by comparing the documents to the report of the Special Litigation Committee (SLC) established by Chiquita’s Board of Directors that issued its 

in 2009.

3. Although the identity of the paramilitary leader who first approached the Banadex officials is not revealed in the redacted document, both the 

and the 

sentencing agreement

confirm that it was Castaño who was at the meeting and who personally requested that the company support the La Tagua group.

4. The “Peace Community” of San José de Apartadó is one of several Colombia towns that during this time had taken a neutral position in the country’s civil conflict.

 

 

The huff and puff of my frustration

So, here are the words to my newest poem (to go with the video recently uploaded from the black dog fundraiser). This one is not so directly anti-war as some of my other poems, but it touches on some of that (and a lot of other things!) Thanks everybody who came out. I heard the event was very successful.

***************************************

The Huff and Puff of my Frustration

(laughs) it’s not fair.
If I were to punch you, as hard as I could, I would sprain my wrist. You would maybe notice as I reduced myself to tears, so instead I use my words and I’ll tell you one thing: this mouth? never got me in a fight it didn’t right-and-the-fuck get me back out of. You see, I said I use my words instead and it’s been working (so far).

But, they’re bailing out the banks. Those leeches and their fees, so the question then becomes how much is your money worth? Depends. How much have ya got? Not a lot? oh, that’s okay baby girl. You too could still be president. Just get in line and we’ll call you. And in the meantime, try and find a job worth a damn to do, because the rent is due, and you’re not getting any younger. And these cards aren’t exactly stacked in your favor. I said get a clue, and pay attention. Because the under current is ever changing in it’s direction.
And you wanna stay ahead of that game, you want that spot on top of the food chain, don’t ya? Everybody’s so busy looking out for #1 and then they wonder why they feel so all alone. So many skin and bones while the top 1% clench their law enforcement fist so tight that you have the right to work until you die in this country, and that’s about it. Now pay your bills and buy some shit. Check your credit score.

And it gets harder to ignore when they’re coming right for ya, but these folks they just don’t care anymore. You can change the channel if it bores ya. Me, I threw out my TV. People gotta tell me when I’m on it. People gotta explain the whole commercial, cause I never catch the reference. Man, I got better things to see. And I understand that time is precious. Mine is spent in reverence of this life, because I am in love with it, I am in love with it.

(Deep breath) I need to learn how to slow down and appreciate this moment. This one, cause it’s all there is. And then I’m off again, forgetting. And I’m looking up again, and I’m searching for the lines that I had memorized, so that I, so that, well, so that I could think about something else.
Sometimes I feel helpless. Like I have a needle but no thread, so it’s no good. I can only manage the damage. Sometimes I am the subject of this charade and sometimes I am just the contents, that is displayed as a series of statistics, and yes I am sometimes Y.
So what of it? And what difference does it make when you die?

Well, I want a government that practices something like the “take a penny, leave a penny” system. And there will come a day, but either way I’m for that rain or shine type of activism. The committed, who don’t shed their tears but collect them, weaving them into meaningful tales. We tell each other stories of bravery and compassion to keep ourselves warm. To keep our hearts burning.

I’ll tell you another thing: it’s you, me and everybody. So don’t go making eneimes, cause you can’t win. Instead it’s time to start talking to these strangers, our neighbors, it’s time to start caring for each other again. Call it community, call it permaculture, call it revolution if you wanna- just get on it! Ten years ago woulda been a good place to start, now will do.

Or, at least I think we can all agree that now is the very best we can do.

So come with me and take heart. I got some new year’s resolutions and a good idea of where to start. I got some friends on the outside, the inside, the flipside and the best part is that you decide your place in this world. You decide. So let’s start.

Because to build a better world, all you really gotta do… is your part.