That Inexpensive Banana Comes at a Steep Price

In June, the banana conglomerate Chiquita lost a civil case in Florida and was ordered to pay nearly $40 million to the families of eight men murdered by a Colombian paramilitary group. More cases are pending, both in the US and Colombia, and it's long overdue, writes Ignacio Gómez G. in a New York Times essay. "The world has known something was amiss in the banana business for a while," writes the Colombian journalist. In the essay, he explains the long and tangled ties between Chiquita and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). The company, which plans to appeal the Florida ruling, admits financing the group but says it did so only for protection and under the threat of violence.

Whatever the reasons, "the company was doing business with criminals," writes Gomez G., who details the violence that has for decades wracked the Uraba region in particular because of the banana crop. "The Florida case raised long neglected ethical questions in both countries about the real cost of one of the least expensive fruits in American supermarkets," writes Gomez G. "We should all ask ourselves: How much bloodshed is behind the bananas we eat for breakfast?" His own answer is "far too much." All consumers should know that "every bite contains a drop of the banana industry's bloody history." (Read the full essay.)