The Octopus in the Cathedral of Salt, an investigative essay on the link between the Chiquita banana company and Colombian paramilitary organization AUC.
September 25, 2007 8:02 AM Subscribe
The Octopus in the Cathedral of Salt is an investigative essay by
Phillip Robertson with pictures by photojournalist
Carlos Villalon on the link between the Chiquita banana company and Colombian paramilitary organization
AUC. Excerpt:
We were drinking Aguilas and the night was winding down and I was half-listening to the conversation. Everyone else had gone downstairs. Carlos turned to me and said, “Is there anything you want to ask him before he goes home?” “I want to know if he heard anything about a shipment of guns that arrived at the Chiquita docks.” Years had passed, but it was worth a shot. “Sure,” Lorenzo said, “I was there. I supervised the unloading of the rifles.”The octopus of the title is the Chiquita banana company, formerly known as United Fruit and
this is the Cathedral of Salt.
Here's a previous thread on Chiquita's guilty plea for dealing with AUC and
FARC. For more of Villalon's work
click here.
posted by Kattullus (8 comments total)
9 users marked this as a favorite
The amount of blood that has been spilled over bananas is disturbing. Interesting stuff.
posted by GuyZero at 8:20 AM on September 25, 2007