Denuncian maniobra de abogado estadounidense que afectará a víctimas de Chiquita Brands

0:00 The WU report, Colonel. The sport Colonel Today is with Chiquita Brance. Daniel again Good morning, July. This is the Colonel report. After lengthy litigation, several U S law firms secured a civil conviction in the United States against Chiquita Brance. A jury sentenced the multinational banana sponsor of paramilitary groups to pay more than$ 38 million to a group of sixteen plaintiffs. The ruling is of itself important to these families, but above all it opens up a space for the thousands of victims of paramilitary actions in the Uraba area to be compensated for substantial sums. The news seemed good for people who suffered the murder of their loved ones by the action of the so- called self- defenses and who were massively displaced from the region and, in some cases, spurred from their lands. Some of them were forced to sign writings with a rifle on their backs, with the complicity of certain notaries of Córdoba and Antioquia and national officials of the Superintendency of Notary and Registry. If they all received compensation similar to that of the group of victims covered by the recent ruling of a West van Beach court, the compensation would amount to more than sixteen zero million dollars, which would have three effects. First, it would lift thousands of

1:34 people out of poverty, thousands of victims. Second, it would be a huge economic injection for this region of Colombia and, third, it would put Chiquita brans on the brink of bankruptcy, but Chiquita pulled some out of the sleeve. Last Friday, June 21, he presented jointly with a lawyer named Paul Wolf, a plan for, in quotation marks, resolution of two thousand and five hundred lawsuits against Chiquita. Mr Wolf appeared in isolation years ago and managed to get more than 2, 000 people to sign his powers. With those powers, he did not seek the best reparation for those affected, but negotiated with the Bananera so that compensation to the victims would be reduced to a thousand three hundred and seventy- four dollars, with seventy- four cents for each person killed, just over five and a half million Colombian pesos. The five million per death must be divided among all the relatives who would end up receiving just a few pesos as reparation an infamy against the people who demand justice.

2:45 The total cost to Chiquita for all these victims, represented by Paul Wolf, will be just over$ 3 4 million, when it was supposed to amount to at least$ 4 billion. In the operation, victims lose their right to compensation. Chiquita Rams wins and lawyer Paul Wolf wins as well. This lawyer, who reached the agreement so convenient for the multinational, will put in his pocket four million two hundred and twenty- four thousand dollars, no matter how many agreements with victims actually come into being. I want to say it here with all the letters and in the exercise of the sacred right of opithion. Lawyer Wolf sold himself to Chiquita. The 2, 500 victims represented by him will hardly receive coins after so much suffering. It is important to note that this agreement only affects persons represented by counsel Paul Wolf. Thousands of other victims will continue to claim fair redress, such as the one recognized by a Florida jury last week. There are pending claims before the jurisdictions of Florida, Washington, DC and Ohio, where Chiquita' s headquarters operates. Lo Rueda is a Colombian lawyer who participated in the trial against Chiquita and who, as an expert, made a report on the assessment of the damage to the victims. That report served for the multinational to be recently condemned. Doctor Rueda good morning, Daniel, and very good morning to your whole life, Doctor

4:18 Rueda. Please explain to us what this agreement is, presented jointly on Friday by lawyer Pol Wafren and Chiquita, because first of all it is necessary to clarify that it is not properly an agreement, that is, an offer of agreement. What it means is basically that it still has to be accepted by the victims to become non- agreement. They have a period in which they have to decide whether to accept it or not. We have already seen and reviewed that this offer of agreement is not fair, but it is legal.

4:59 It' s legal, let' s say at first. That would have to be accepted by the judge. That acceptance is what determines. Yeah, well, the gift isn' t legal. You don' t have to make a difference. How the damages were calculated for the victims, who will receive$ 38 million and why these other victims, represented by lawyer Paul Wolf, will only receive five and a half million pesos per person killed. The damage was calculated on the basis of a determination of the damage. On the one hand, what is called tacuniary damage and non- pecuniary years accepted by the jury. The jury determines the damage. This is an issue, let ' s say, which I can' t pronounce much because it' s still in the pre- appeal litigiu, but I can refer to the way as if they did the jury determines what years are actually caused. I remember you using the theme of constitutional law is the jury that determines the issues.

6:15 In fact, then they know how much damage was done. In the other case, in the case of pow Woff, the damages were determined according to a transaction the lawyer made with the company. Which criteria were used, it does not ask me, but the significantly different criteria were used, because the sums are substantially different. In other words, the valuation was made by the victim' s lawyer with the sponsor of the executioner, without having the victims. Apparently, yes, because it has not yet been obtained, the approval of the victims is known. The approval of the victims of this agreement is pending. Mr Wolfo one did yes, forgive me, I called him Dr Rueda. Mr Wolf was not part of the trial that recently convicted Chiquita.

7:16 He developed a different legal strategy than lawyers who represented the victims. Yes, the disagreements let' s say between Mr Vos and the rest of the lawyers want more than a decade ago. So, that' s why the judge was asked. The other lawyers had to play as two categories of plaintiffs, the Wolf plaintiffs and the Lobop plaintiffs. And how much we already know that what a person would receive, not even one person for each death, would be five and a half million pesos. In the case of plaintiffs who are with Mr Wolf. How much a person gets from who won the trial last week in Florida, as it varies, depending on the years each person has suffered. But in general, they will have to be multiplied by thirty- eight point three million dollars among the eight plaintiffs or the eight, say, dead people who got that repair. That is, it is easy if we live thirty- three between eight and four million dollars for a dead author,

8:48 while the people who trusted attorney Wolf are receiving five and a half million pesos. That' s right. How painful this doctor rolls. These people represented by attorney Wolf may revoke his power and seek fairer compensation. In short, they can change counsel and continue to claim. They can what happens is that we say the strategy that is being used is to say or the trapping that is using WOX, that is, there is already uncertainty based on the appeal that Chiquita is making in relation to the verdict or the judge' s decision, the jury in the case known as Beber, prefier i e, in this first one that was failed to Santiago the west On Beach. Then he says look, as it is uncertain and as it is highly likely, according to his consideration, that that first instance decision has been overturned. So it ' s best to have something for sure than to have an uncertainty about something that can change with the hair. It is incredible what is happening, that is, it is better to have insurance of five million Colombian pesos than to have the possibility of having a fair compensation in dollars according to the damage caused by the multination to the banana company thousand Thanks to the lawyer Pablo Rueda,

10:24 who participated in the trial against Chiquita branz and whose concept was vital to achieve that fair compensation for a first group of victims. I wish the peasants would row a power. Yes, sir, thank you very much. I was saying to you, sir, that I wish the peasants who signed an Apple Wolf power could find a solution to the business that this lawyer did with the multinational against the real repair for these thousands of people affected. This was today ' s colonel report. Thank you very much.