Chiquita International and its Columbian subsidiary Bananex have a really big problem. On one end of the debate you have the Columbian militant group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), who Chiquita says might threaten the lives of their employees (among other things) if they don't pay the group. However, on the other end of the debate you have the U.S. government who placed the AUC on their list of terrorist organizations in 2001.

Obviously the U.S. doesn't want Chiquita to pay AUC, but if Chiquita doesn't continue to pay the AUC (as they have been doing for at least a few decades) they would have to pull out of Columbia right away. According to Chiquita, when they approached the Justice Department about this, Justice said they would get back to Chiquita with further direction, but never did.

The Justice Department says they told Chiquita flat out to stop making payments, and on top of this, the Columbian government says Chiquita has been smuggling guns into Central America too. The Washington Post article on the fiasco reads like a fiction novel - a tip of the hat to Business Ethics for this one.

I just don't know what to say. I mean, you would think that big basket on the Chiquita Banana lady's head would just scream "I'm smuggling something." Ok, bad joke. Nevertheless, Brumley's Blog makes an excellent point.

Let's review. Why are these groups in Colombia fighting each other and terrorizing companies and citizens, as well as corrupting their own government? Answer: drug money.

Why are drugs so profitable? Answer: because of the insane war on drugs launched by the U.S. Government.

Yes, dancing in circles around a sombrero sounds like loads of fun.