Colombian Banana Industry Linked to Paramilitary Financing

The Attorney General’s Office in Colombia has charged 14 banana industry businessmen with funding paramilitary groups in the Uraba region of Antioquia from 1996 to 2004. The indictment reveals there is proof these businessmen paid the paramilitaries a total of 33,292 million Colombian pesos over those eight years. In return, they reportedly received protection for their operations.

The indictment, released today March 12, states that with these actions, the 14 banana executives helped to finance the illegal activities of the armed group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), demobilized in 2006.

The accusation against the businessmen is for the crime of aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime by the promotion and financing of organized armed groups outside the law, a conduct declared as a crime against humanity. 

Businessmen and the AUC

“These people apparently paid the paramilitary structure three cents on the dollar for each box of bananas leaving the country for international markets. In exchange, the leaders of the illegal armed group promised to provide them with security and allow them to continue with the commercial operation in the Uraba region of Antioquia,” states the statement released Tuesday by the Attorney General’s Office.

“Those affected by the decision are Oscar Enrique Penagos Garces, Carlos Sergio Nicolas Echavarria Mesa, Santiago Antonio Uribe Lopez, Jose Gentil Silva Holguin, Rosalba Zapata Cardona, Ivan Dario Mejia Restrepo, Fabio Leon Restrepo Villegas, Javier Francisco Restrepo Girona, Oscar Luis Aristizabal Vahos, Jaime Restrepo Marulanda, Alberto Leon Mejia Zuluaga, Jaime Mauricio Restrepo Arango, Diego Andres J. Restrepo Londoño and James Leaver Wagner,” the indictment states.

The prosecutor’s office also reported that the money was given through disbursements to the so-called “Convivir Papagayo…..which was managed by Alberto Osorio Mejia, sentenced to 4 years in prison in 2009; and Arnulfo Peñuela Marin, sentenced to 6 years in prison in 2010, after his links with the Arlex Hurtado front of the AUC were proven”.

The cycle of endemic violence

In the 1990s and 2000s, the Colombian coast witnessed a complex and troubling relationship between businessmen and the AUC, a paramilitary group that exercised strong control over large areas of the country. This relationship was characterized by a combination of collaboration, coercion and complicity.

The businessmen, in their search for protection and stability for their businesses in the face of the violence unleashed by guerrillas and drug traffickers, found in the AUC a supposed solution. Many businessmen were pressured to pay “vaccines” or extortion fees to these organizations in exchange for protection against kidnappings, sabotage or other violent actions.

In addition to extortion, some businessmen were involved in the direct financing of AUC activities, thus contributing to the escalation of the armed conflict in Colombia. This symbiotic relationship allowed the paramilitaries to obtain financial resources and legitimacy, while the businessmen ensured the continuity of their operations in a hostile environment.

However, this collaboration had devastating consequences for Colombian society, fueling the cycle of violence and corruption that affected the region for years. Although many of these relationships have been investigated and some individuals have been brought to justice, the complexity of the business-paramilitary web remains murky.

Society now demands to know the truth of what happened, as a fundamental for the construction of a lasting peace in Colombia.