Colombian militia boss says took U.S. banana payoffs
(Recasts through with details on U.S. fruit companies)
By Patrick Markey
BOGOTA, May 17 (Reuters) - A former Colombian paramilitary commander said on Thursday his illegal organization took payoffs from local operators for U.S. fruit firms, including Dole and Del Monte, witnesses at a hearing said.
The accusations came at a difficult time for President Alvaro Uribe, who has reduced violence from Latin America's oldest rebel war, but faces a scandal over the arrest of some congressional allies on charges they conspired with the right-wing death squads.
Ex-commander Salvatore Mancuso, who is testifying about crimes he committed, once led a paramilitary movement involved in drug-trafficking, massacres and atrocities during a dirty war against leftist rebels until his men reached a peace deal.
Mancuso has already accused scores of politicians and two Colombian drinks companies of ties to his armed group. He is testifying under an accord granting militia bosses short prison terms for handing over weapons and confessing.
"He talked about ties to the banana companies, most of the companies that operated in his area of influence," Carlos Ivan Lopera, a lawyer for a victim's rights group who attended the hearing, told Reuters.
Reporters were not allowed in the testimony at Medellin attorney general's office. But a judicial source and another representative of victims of paramilitary violence allowed into the hearings confirmed details of Mancuso naming Dole and Del Monte and other local fruit companies.
He did not give details on whether companies were pressured to make protection payments or whether the alleged payments were made by their local product distributors
An official at Dole Food's office in California denied Mancuso's accusations. Mancuso spoke about Del Monte but was not more precise about details. A representative from U.S. firm Fresh Del Monte, which has production sites in Colombia, did not return calls seeking comment.
"Recent press accounts implicating Dole with illegal organizations in Colombia are absolutely untrue," Dole Food said in a statement.
U.S. banana giant Chiquita Brands International (CQB.N) agreed to a $25 million fine in March after pleading guilty before U.S. officials to paying protection cash to militias when they held brutal control over swaths of Colombia.
Uribe has furiously defended his government from charges of links to the illegal groups, who were started by wealthy landowners seeking protection from guerrilla attacks in areas where state presence was weak.
An important White House ally, Uribe has received billions in U.S. aid to quell guerrillas and disarm more than 30,000 paramilitaries. But leftist rebels are still fighting.
The scandal over paramilitary ties is hurting Uribe as seeks to persuade skeptical U.S. Democrats controlling Congress to approve a U.S. free trade pact and clear military and counter-drug aid for the world's No. 1 producer of cocaine.
Critics say the investigation is uncovering collusion between the state and right-wing militias that was an open secret for years. But Uribe backs the probe and says the arrests of his lawmaker allies shows justice is working.
