al-Banana

When you buy bananas, the terrorists win.

That's the lesson learned today after the Department of Justice accepted a guilty plea from the Chiquita corporation after the company made payments to a right-wing terrorist organization based in Colombia. The company will also face a whopping $25 million fine.

Chiquita did cooperate with the investigation, which saw the company transfer funds to the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, which was placed on the United States' terrorist watch list on, surprisingly enough, September 10, 2001.

"Like any criminal enterprise, a terrorist organization needs a funding stream to support its operations. For several years, the AUC terrorist group found one in the payments they demanded from Chiquita Brands

International. Thanks to Chiquita's cooperation and this prosecution, that funding stream is now dry and corporations are on notice that they cannot make protection payments to terrorists," said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein.

More [here]. And more on the fellows they were funding [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Self-Defense_Forces_of_Colombia).