By Patrick Markey BOGOTA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Colombia pressed the United States on Wednesday to hand over a $25 million fine against Chiquita Brands to victims of the paramilitary death squads the U.S. fruit firm illegally paid for years. Angry Colombian officials said it was outrageous that the money would go into U.S. coffers after a U.S. court on Monday imposed the fine on the firm for paying protection money to paramilitaries who are accused of massacres in a bloody war with leftist guerrillas. Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos said the National Commission for Reconciliation and Reparation -- which oversees victim compensation -- contacted the U.S. Attorney General's office to push for the fine to be paid into a victims fund. "We are speaking to attorneys to make sure this $25 million ends up going to compensate victims," Santos told reporters. Colombia's conflict has ebbed under President Alvaro Uribe, a Washington ally who has employed U.S. military aid to push back guerrillas, demobilize illegal paramilitaries and attack the cocaine trade that helps fuel the country's violence. Right-wing paramilitary militias were initially formed to protect wealthy landowners from FARC rebels who have been battling the state since the 1960s. Both groups are branded drug-trafficking terrorists by Washington and Bogota. While FARC guerrillas still fight, more than 31,000 paramilitary fighters have disbanded in a peace deal with Uribe. Paramilitary commanders got short jail terms for confessing to crimes and compensating victims although rights groups say they have kept their criminal networks active. Investigators are still scouring the country for thousands of paramilitary massacre victims, who were often hacked up and dumped in common graves on only the suspicion of rebel ties. Rights groups and some officials have questioned why none of the Chiquita <CQB.N> executives involved will face charges and the government says it could seek their extradition. "We are calling other rights groups in other countries to start a boycott of the company," Ivan Cepeda, director of a national victims association, told Reuters after asking the government to ban Chiquita from operating in Colombia. According to its plea agreement, Chiquita paid more than $1.7 million starting in 1997 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a violent militia umbrella group known by its Spanish acronym AUC, which disbanded under the peace deal. Chiquita said it made the payments to protect its employees there. The payments went on even after the U.S. government designated the AUC as a foreign terrorist group in 2001. The company sold its Colombian subsidiary in 2004.
