Also see Chiquita: Yes, We Have No Profits - Fortune 26nov01
Editor's note; Stories pierce veil of secrecy - Cincinnati Enquirer - By: Lawrence K. Beaupre
Enquirer investigation finds questionable business practices, dangerous use of pesticides, fear among plantation workers; Chiquita: An empire built on controversy; An empire built on controversy
"At first we had thought it could be the solvent that people were smelling, but approximately 16 to 17 samples were taken outside of the plant for chlorpyrifos and 15 of them turned up positive in fairly high quantities." - Roger Theodoredis, Chiquita executive assigned to investigate the Polymer Plastipak problems; Smokestack emits toxins; 'We cry for our children'
"The one thing that (the Enquirer) asked me that I hedged on was how much did Chiquita pay you, CI (Conservation International), to do this study. I said I'll have to check, even though I actually know... I don't feel that it's really any of his (the reporter's) business." -- James Nations, Conservation International
"They don't want us doing any research. For example, water pollution. It is better (for a company) to suspect that the water is polluted than to know that the water is polluted." - Professor Luisa Castillo, Costa Rica's National University Pesticide Program; Industry resists curbs, but bananas safe
Life on a banana plantation; Growing Chiquita bananas: pesticides and hard work
"About the EU tour that this minister in Panama wants to take is just highly dangerous . . "And I was saying that we should, if we could politely do it without ruffling too many feathers, get that minister's trip cancelled. So that would be exactly my program." - Keith Lindner, Chiquita vice chairman, on canceling the trip of Panamanian foreign minister; Contributions buy influence
"If Chiquita come in, we are no way, they will do us in . . . We don't know who to believe anymore, and we don't know the future." - Humbert Nicholson, small banana farmer in Grande Rivere, St. Lucia.; Island economies on the line
"I was very restless that night. I couldn't sleep that whole night. I didn't know what it was, but I knew something had happened. At 3 a.m., people came over to tell me my son had been shot." - Felicita Diaz, mother of Josque Moises Castro Diaz; Villagers fear brutal guards
"I would tell him, why don't you give us our back pay and salary that is rightfully due us? I gave you 31 years of my life. Why are you paying me back this way? It is a betrayal. Don't you know what's going on down here?" - Miguel Angel Tejada Pineda, a fired Honduran union official who worked for Tela; Workers lead precarious lives in squalid camps
Drugs found on Chiquita ships; Lax company security in Colombia blamed for smuggling
Mr. Stalinski and his attorneys "are just trying to shake us down for money so that they'll go away " - Steven Warshaw, then Chiquita's vice president, in a 1995 Enquirer interview; Chiquita sued over alleged kidnap plot
Village destroyed; Armed soldiers evict residents in Chiquita plan to eliminate union
"At the end of the day this has cost us a tremendous amount of money from the standpoint of our reputation in the marketplace once again with the Honduras fruit. And once again, no one ends up paying the piper is what it comes down to." - Robert F. Kistinger, Chiquita Banana Group president; Overripe fruit hurts reputation, bottom line
"We can only fire him (Renaldo Escobar) with cause because of his involvement in the Colombian problem if we file a criminal charge against him with Colombian authorities. Clearly we would not want to do that because we would be implicating ourselves" - David Hills, Chiquita lawyer, discussing how to deal with a subsidiary company lawyer involved in a Colombian bribe scheme; Bribe scheme covered up
"Both Chiquita and our government have assured us that Chiquita has nothing to do with COBALISA other than to make contracts with them to purchase their bananas." - Edgardo Zepeda, president of the Honduran banana workers union; Locals front for Chiquita
'How can you take money from a corporation . . . doing that kind of thing to perfectly good and totally innocent people?'; Catholic leader rips Chiquita; Cincinnati banana giant responds to Enquirer probe
Pilarczyk defends accepting donation; Detroit bishop calls such Lindner gifts 'blood money'
Stockholders sue Chiquita over reports; Three separate lawsuits charge mismanagement
Chiquita backed at annual meeting; Banana giant defends practices, blasts Enquirer
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