# Buy a Banana, and You Help Terrorists Wipe Out A Villiage! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 15, 2007, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-a-banana-and-you-help-terrorists-wipe-out-a-villiage/396011 "2007-03-15T07:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-a-banana-and-you-help-terrorists-wipe-out-a-villiage/396011/1 "2007-03-15T07:59:56Z")
Remember those absolutely _stupid_ anti-drug ads right after 9/11 which had people saying that they helped a car bomber, a hijacker, or some other terrorist because they bought some drugs and that money went to fund the terrorists? _Nobody_ swallowed that crap, because they knew it wasn’t true. It turns out, however, that if you bought a [Chiquita banana some of your money _did_ go to terrorists!](http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/nation/16906588.htm) > [@](#): > > Banana company Chiquita Brands International said Wednesday it has agreed to a $25 million fine after admitting it paid a Colombian terrorist group for protection in a volatile farming region. > > The settlement resolves a Justice Department investigation into the firm’s financial dealings with terrorist organizations in Colombia. Apparently, the terrorists are responsible for _most_ of Columbia’s cocaine exports **and** have committed some of the worst massacres in the country! So put down the banana, you drug pushing terrorist lover! ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-a-banana-and-you-help-terrorists-wipe-out-a-villiage/396011/2 "2007-03-15T08:08:17Z")
The article is a bit unclear. The mob runs “protection” rackets and shakes down businesses. Is this what happened to Chiquita? Quite frankly, if a Colombian group known for violence were to ask me for money because, “it’d sure be a shame if something happened to your nice bananna trees” I’d likely pony up the dough. I would be surprised if other companies did not pay protection money in many other parts of the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was simply thought of as the cost of doing business. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-a-banana-and-you-help-terrorists-wipe-out-a-villiage/396011/3 "2007-03-15T08:43:43Z")
[QUOTE=MGibson] The article is a bit unclear. The mob runs “protection” rackets and shakes down businesses. Is this what happened to Chiquita? Quite frankly, if a Colombian group known for violence were to ask me for money because, “it’d sure be a shame if something happened to your nice bananna trees” I’d likely pony up the dough. [/QUOTE] That’s how it read to me, as well. Will they start hitting up Mom & Pop businesses in Brooklyn because they agree (or else) to contract out their garbage pickup to the Corleone family? $5 million to paramilitaries for “Accident Prevention” payments, $25 million to the DoJ for “Dealing with Terrorists” fines. Protection rackets are a standard business expense everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-a-banana-and-you-help-terrorists-wipe-out-a-villiage/396011/4 "2007-03-15T12:54:52Z")
_I’m a Chiquita Banana And I’ve come to say That you’ve been funding terror Down Equator way_ ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-a-banana-and-you-help-terrorists-wipe-out-a-villiage/396011/5 "2007-03-15T13:49:40Z")
I asked my husband to stop by the grocery today and get me some Al-Chiquita bananas. Yeah, I’m an anarchist, sue me. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-a-banana-and-you-help-terrorists-wipe-out-a-villiage/396011/6 "2007-03-16T00:52:34Z")
I have bananas, but they’re Dole. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-a-banana-and-you-help-terrorists-wipe-out-a-villiage/396011/7 "2007-03-16T00:57:04Z")
This reminds me of the old cartoon Babor: “watch out, he’s got a banana gun!” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-a-banana-and-you-help-terrorists-wipe-out-a-villiage/396011/8 "2007-03-16T01:22:33Z")
It’s sad to see what has become of the once proud United Fruit Company. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-a-banana-and-you-help-terrorists-wipe-out-a-villiage/396011/9 "2007-03-16T02:00:28Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] It’s sad to see what has become of the once proud United Fruit Company. [/QUOTE] Ah, the UFC! The people responsible for the phrase, “banana republic.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-a-banana-and-you-help-terrorists-wipe-out-a-villiage/396011/10 "2007-03-16T02:24:41Z")
Why am I hearing Sally Struthers in my head? “For just 20 cents a day, you can have a banana AND help fund terror training camps in Guatemala, which will get indigent revolutionaries off the streets…”