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

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:06.120
The WU report, Colonel. The
sport Colonel Today is with Chiquita Brance.

2
00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:13.359
Daniel again Good morning, July.
This is the Colonel report. After lengthy

3
00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:20.160
litigation, several U S law firms
secured a civil conviction in the United States

4
00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:26.480
against Chiquita Brance. A jury sentenced
the multinational banana sponsor of paramilitary groups to

5
00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:32.600
pay more than$ 38 million to
a group of sixteen plaintiffs. The ruling

6
00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:38.159
is of itself important to these families, but above all it opens up a

7
00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:42.439
space for the thousands of victims of
paramilitary actions in the Uraba area to be

8
00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:50.799
compensated for substantial sums. The news
seemed good for people who suffered the murder

9
00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:57.000
of their loved ones by the action
of the so- called self- defenses

10
00:00:57.159 --> 00:01:02.280
and who were massively displaced from the
region and, in some cases, spurred

11
00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:06.920
from their lands. Some of them
were forced to sign writings with a rifle

12
00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:11.599
on their backs, with the complicity
of certain notaries of Córdoba and Antioquia and

13
00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:18.480
national officials of the Superintendency of Notary
and Registry. If they all received compensation

14
00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:23.640
similar to that of the group of
victims covered by the recent ruling of a

15
00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:29.840
West van Beach court, the compensation
would amount to more than sixteen zero million

16
00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:34.879
dollars, which would have three effects. First, it would lift thousands of

17
00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:40.959
people out of poverty, thousands of
victims. Second, it would be a

18
00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:47.280
huge economic injection for this region of
Colombia and, third, it would put

19
00:01:47.319 --> 00:01:51.640
Chiquita brans on the brink of bankruptcy, but Chiquita pulled some out of the

20
00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:57.159
sleeve. Last Friday, June 21, he presented jointly with a lawyer named

21
00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:01.959
Paul Wolf, a plan for,
in quotation marks, resolution of two thousand

22
00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:08.000
and five hundred lawsuits against Chiquita.
Mr Wolf appeared in isolation years ago and

23
00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:13.120
managed to get more than 2,
000 people to sign his powers. With

24
00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:17.319
those powers, he did not seek
the best reparation for those affected, but

25
00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:23.639
negotiated with the Bananera so that compensation
to the victims would be reduced to a

26
00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:29.280
thousand three hundred and seventy- four
dollars, with seventy- four cents for

27
00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:32.360
each person killed, just over five
and a half million Colombian pesos. The

28
00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:38.000
five million per death must be divided
among all the relatives who would end up

29
00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:44.960
receiving just a few pesos as reparation
an infamy against the people who demand justice.

30
00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:50.439
The total cost to Chiquita for all
these victims, represented by Paul Wolf,

31
00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:54.439
will be just over$ 3 4
million, when it was supposed to

32
00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:00.439
amount to at least$ 4 billion. In the operation, victims lose their

33
00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:07.080
right to compensation. Chiquita Rams wins
and lawyer Paul Wolf wins as well.

34
00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:12.280
This lawyer, who reached the agreement
so convenient for the multinational, will put

35
00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:19.199
in his pocket four million two hundred
and twenty- four thousand dollars, no

36
00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:22.319
matter how many agreements with victims actually
come into being. I want to say

37
00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:25.520
it here with all the letters and
in the exercise of the sacred right of

38
00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:31.319
opithion. Lawyer Wolf sold himself to
Chiquita. The 2, 500 victims represented

39
00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:38.840
by him will hardly receive coins after
so much suffering. It is important to

40
00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:44.439
note that this agreement only affects persons
represented by counsel Paul Wolf. Thousands of

41
00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.879
other victims will continue to claim fair
redress, such as the one recognized by

42
00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:53.840
a Florida jury last week. There
are pending claims before the jurisdictions of Florida,

43
00:03:54.039 --> 00:04:00.199
Washington, DC and Ohio, where
Chiquita' s headquarters operates. Lo

44
00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:04.280
Rueda is a Colombian lawyer who participated
in the trial against Chiquita and who,

45
00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:08.960
as an expert, made a report
on the assessment of the damage to the

46
00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:14.680
victims. That report served for the
multinational to be recently condemned. Doctor Rueda

47
00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:18.000
good morning, Daniel, and very
good morning to your whole life, Doctor

48
00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:26.839
Rueda. Please explain to us what
this agreement is, presented jointly on Friday

49
00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:31.160
by lawyer Pol Wafren and Chiquita,
because first of all it is necessary to

50
00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:34.800
clarify that it is not properly an
agreement, that is, an offer of

51
00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:40.439
agreement. What it means is basically
that it still has to be accepted by

52
00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:46.639
the victims to become non- agreement. They have a period in which they

53
00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:53.720
have to decide whether to accept it
or not. We have already seen and

54
00:04:54.120 --> 00:04:57.399
reviewed that this offer of agreement is
not fair, but it is legal.

55
00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:03.160
It' s legal, let'
s say at first. That would have

56
00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:09.959
to be accepted by the judge.
That acceptance is what determines. Yeah,

57
00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:16.759
well, the gift isn' t
legal. You don' t have to

58
00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:20.959
make a difference. How the damages
were calculated for the victims, who will

59
00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:26.199
receive$ 38 million and why these
other victims, represented by lawyer Paul Wolf,

60
00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:32.600
will only receive five and a half
million pesos per person killed. The

61
00:05:32.759 --> 00:05:40.040
damage was calculated on the basis of
a determination of the damage. On the

62
00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:45.439
one hand, what is called tacuniary
damage and non- pecuniary years accepted by

63
00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:50.759
the jury. The jury determines the
damage. This is an issue, let

64
00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:57.639
' s say, which I can' t pronounce much because it' s

65
00:05:57.639 --> 00:06:05.399
still in the pre- appeal litigiu, but I can refer to the way

66
00:06:05.639 --> 00:06:09.199
as if they did the jury determines
what years are actually caused. I remember

67
00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:15.120
you using the theme of constitutional law
is the jury that determines the issues.

68
00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:21.040
In fact, then they know how
much damage was done. In the other

69
00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:25.720
case, in the case of pow
Woff, the damages were determined according to

70
00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:31.079
a transaction the lawyer made with the
company. Which criteria were used, it

71
00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:36.199
does not ask me, but the
significantly different criteria were used, because the

72
00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:44.720
sums are substantially different. In other
words, the valuation was made by the

73
00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:48.360
victim' s lawyer with the sponsor
of the executioner, without having the victims.

74
00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:56.120
Apparently, yes, because it has
not yet been obtained, the approval

75
00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:01.399
of the victims is known. The
approval of the victims of this agreement is

76
00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:13.160
pending. Mr Wolfo one did yes, forgive me, I called him Dr

77
00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:15.920
Rueda. Mr Wolf was not part
of the trial that recently convicted Chiquita.

78
00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:25.519
He developed a different legal strategy than
lawyers who represented the victims. Yes,

79
00:07:25.879 --> 00:07:31.120
the disagreements let' s say between
Mr Vos and the rest of the lawyers

80
00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:35.639
want more than a decade ago.
So, that' s why the judge

81
00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:40.600
was asked. The other lawyers had
to play as two categories of plaintiffs,

82
00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:53.879
the Wolf plaintiffs and the Lobop plaintiffs. And how much we already know that

83
00:07:53.959 --> 00:08:00.319
what a person would receive, not
even one person for each death, would

84
00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:05.399
be five and a half million pesos. In the case of plaintiffs who are

85
00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:11.279
with Mr Wolf. How much a
person gets from who won the trial last

86
00:08:11.319 --> 00:08:20.879
week in Florida, as it varies, depending on the years each person has

87
00:08:20.920 --> 00:08:26.519
suffered. But in general, they
will have to be multiplied by thirty-

88
00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:33.480
eight point three million dollars among the
eight plaintiffs or the eight, say,

89
00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:43.200
dead people who got that repair.
That is, it is easy if we

90
00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:46.840
live thirty- three between eight and
four million dollars for a dead author,

91
00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:54.879
while the people who trusted attorney Wolf
are receiving five and a half million pesos.

92
00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:03.159
That' s right. How painful
this doctor rolls. These people represented

93
00:09:03.159 --> 00:09:09.320
by attorney Wolf may revoke his power
and seek fairer compensation. In short,

94
00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:15.919
they can change counsel and continue to
claim. They can what happens is that

95
00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:22.480
we say the strategy that is being
used is to say or the trapping that

96
00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:26.240
is using WOX, that is,
there is already uncertainty based on the appeal

97
00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:33.480
that Chiquita is making in relation to
the verdict or the judge' s decision,

98
00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:37.799
the jury in the case known as
Beber, prefier i e, in

99
00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:43.000
this first one that was failed to
Santiago the west On Beach. Then he

100
00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:48.639
says look, as it is uncertain
and as it is highly likely, according

101
00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:54.080
to his consideration, that that first
instance decision has been overturned. So it

102
00:09:54.120 --> 00:10:03.120
' s best to have something for
sure than to have an uncertainty about something

103
00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:09.440
that can change with the hair.
It is incredible what is happening, that

104
00:10:09.480 --> 00:10:13.519
is, it is better to have
insurance of five million Colombian pesos than to

105
00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:18.399
have the possibility of having a fair
compensation in dollars according to the damage caused

106
00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:22.720
by the multination to the banana company
thousand Thanks to the lawyer Pablo Rueda,

107
00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:30.360
who participated in the trial against Chiquita
branz and whose concept was vital to achieve

108
00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:33.840
that fair compensation for a first group
of victims. I wish the peasants would

109
00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:39.080
row a power. Yes, sir, thank you very much. I was

110
00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:41.559
saying to you, sir, that
I wish the peasants who signed an Apple

111
00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:46.919
Wolf power could find a solution to
the business that this lawyer did with the

112
00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:54.759
multinational against the real repair for these
thousands of people affected. This was today

113
00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:56.840
' s colonel report. Thank you
very much.