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81-483: Along with the United Fruit Company , Standard Fruit played a significant role in the governments of Honduras and other Central American countries, which became known as " banana republics " due to the high degree of control which the fruit companies held over the nations. In 1926, the company changed its name from Standard Fruit Company to Standard Fruit & Steamship Company . Between 1964 and 1968,

162-580: A shohet . He attended Yeshiva University , and graduated at the top of his class in 1940. He also received training to be an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and served as the rabbi of a congregation in Woodmere , New York for three and a half years prior to entering business. Black's business career began in investment banking with Lehman Brothers , and then the American Securities Corporation, where he worked on financing for

243-669: A hostile takeover . Zemurray moved the company's headquarters to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was based. United Fruit went on to prosper under Zemurray's management; Zemurray resigned as president of the company in 1951. In addition to many other labor actions, the company faced two major strikes of workers in South and Central America, in Colombia in 1928 and the Great Banana Strike of 1934 in Costa Rica. The latter

324-479: A 1% increase in probability of being poor in 2011 since 1973 compared to the 0.73% lower probability on a UFCo location. A strike by United Fruit workers broke out on 12 November 1928 near Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. On December 6, Colombian Army troops allegedly under the command of General Cortés Vargas opened fire on a crowd of strikers in the central square of Ciénaga . Estimates of

405-430: A company's investment is largely self-contained for its employees and overseas investors and the benefits of the export earnings are not shared with the host country. One of the company's primary tactics for maintaining market dominance was to control the distribution of arable land. UFCO claimed that hurricanes, blight and other natural threats required them to hold extra land or reserve land. In practice, what this meant

486-467: A contract with the government of Costa Rica to build a railroad connecting the capital city of San José to the port of Limón in the Caribbean . Meiggs was assisted in the project by his young nephew, Minor C. Keith , who took over Meiggs's business concerns in Costa Rica after his death in 1877. Keith began experimenting with the planting of bananas as a cheap source of food for his workers. When

567-599: A hard life for a company "far away", and whose accompanying video depicted orange groves worked by peasants overseen by wealthy managers. The lyrics and scenery are generic, but United Fruit (or its successor Chiquita) was reputedly the target. US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell negotiated land giveaways to the United Fruit Company in Guatemala and Honduras. John Foster Dulles's brother, Allen Dulles , who

648-776: A private corporation negotiates a collective agreement. The workers committed themselves to go back to work on May 21. May 21: After the Standard Fruit workers go back to work, the United Fruit workers harden their position. The number of strikers increases to 100,000 United Fruit. United Fruit Company The United Fruit Company (later the United Brands Company ) was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas) grown on Latin American plantations and sold in

729-541: A promising host export-driven economy. The Agrarian Law would grant international, multinational companies leniency in tax regulations along with other financial incentives. Acquiring the first railroad concession from liberal President Miguel R. Dávila in 1910, the Vaccaro brothers and Company helped set the foundation on which the banana republic would struggle to balance and regulate the relationships between American capitalism and Honduran politics. Samuel Zemurray ,

810-464: A scheme for the solution of the participants' cash flow problems and was in the process of implementing it. The merger formed the United Fruit Company, based in Boston, with Preston as president and Keith as vice-president. Palmer became a permanent member of the executive committee and for long periods of time the director. From a business point of view, Bradley Palmer was United Fruit. Preston brought to

891-625: A small-sized American banana entrepreneur, rose to be another contender looking to invest in the Honduran agricultural trade. In New Orleans , Zemurray found himself strategizing with the newly exiled General Manuel Bonilla (nationalist ex-president of Honduras 1903–1907, 1912–1913) and fomented a coup d'état against President Dávila. On Christmas Eve, December 1910, in clear opposition of the Dávila administration, Samuel Zemurray, U.S. General Lee Christmas , and Honduran General Manuel Bonilla boarded

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972-542: A substantial amount of U.S. capital to build a progressive infrastructure in Honduras. The granting of land ownership in exchange for the railroad concession started the first official competitive market for bananas and giving birth to the banana republic . Cuyamel Fruit Company and the Vaccaro Bros. and Co. would become known as being multinational enterprises. Bringing western modernization and industrialization to

1053-402: Is in revolt; military who have orders 'not to spare ammunition' have already killed and wounded about fifty strikers. Government now talks of general offensive against strikers as soon as all troopships now on the way arrive early next week. The dispatch from U.S. Bogotá Embassy to the U.S. Secretary of State, dated December 29, 1928, stated: I have the honor to report that the legal advisor of

1134-611: The American Seal-Kap Company , a company that made caps for milk bottles. He was hired to be their chairman and chief executive officer in 1954. Black renamed the company AMK, after its ticker symbol, and turned it into a vehicle for acquisitions, joining the conglomerate bandwagon of the 1960s. Among his many takeovers was the John Morrell & Co. meatpacking company. AMK joined the nation's top 500 companies in 1967. In September 1968, Black bought 10% of

1215-599: The Hornet to a Honduran straw buyer on the island to avoid falling foul of the Neutrality Act . After successfully attacking the port of Trujillo, the Hornet unexpectedly encountered the U.S. gunboat Tacoma and was towed back to New Orleans. The nascent revolution continued apace, Zemurray's media contacts having spread the word in advance. President Dávila was forced to step down, with Francisco Bertrand becoming interim president until General Bonilla handily won

1296-609: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission exposed a scheme by United Brands (dubbed Bananagate ) to bribe Honduran President Oswaldo López Arellano with $ 1.25 million, plus the promise of another $ 1.25 million upon the reduction of certain export taxes. Trading in United Brands stock was halted, and López was ousted in a military coup. After Black's suicide, Cincinnati -based American Financial Group , one of billionaire Carl Lindner, Jr. 's companies, bought into United Brands. In August 1984, Lindner took control of

1377-615: The United Brands Company . United Fruit had far less cash than Black had counted on, and Black's mismanagement led to United Brands becoming crippled with debt. The company's losses were exacerbated by Hurricane Fifi in 1974, which destroyed many banana plantations in Honduras . On February 3, 1975, Black committed suicide by jumping out a window from the 44th floor of the Pan Am Building in New York City. Later that year,

1458-470: The wealth gap as well as the collusion between the profiting Honduran government officials and the U.S. fruit companies (United Fruit Co., Standard Fruit Co., Cuyamel Fruit Co.) versus the Honduran working and poor classes. Due to the exclusivity of the land concessions and lack of official ownership documentation, Honduran producers and experienced laborers were left with two options to regain these lands— dominio util or dominio pleno. Dominio util —meaning

1539-501: The 1930s the company owned 3.5 million acres (14,000 km ) of land in Central America and the Caribbean and was the single largest land owner in Guatemala. Such holdings gave it great power over the governments of small countries. That was one of the factors that led to the coining of the phrase " banana republic ". In 1933, concerned that the company was mismanaged and that its market value had plunged, Zemurray staged

1620-717: The 1930s – was Secretary of State under Eisenhower; his brother Allen, who did legal work for the company and sat on its board of directors, was head of the CIA under Eisenhower; Henry Cabot Lodge , who was America's ambassador to the UN, was a large owner of United Fruit stock; Ed Whitman, the United Fruit PR man, was married to Ann Whitman, Dwight Eisenhower's personal secretary. You could not see these connections until you could – and then you could not stop seeing them. The United Fruit Company (UFCO) owned huge tracts of land in

1701-571: The Caribbean coast of Colombia . In 1899, Keith lost $ 1.5 million when Hoadley and Co., a New York City broker, went bankrupt. He then traveled to Boston, Massachusetts, to participate in the merger of his banana trading company, Tropical Trading and Transport Company , with the rival Boston Fruit Company. Boston Fruit had been established by Lorenzo Dow Baker , a sailor who, in 1870, had bought his first bananas in Jamaica, and by Andrew W. Preston . Preston's lawyer, Bradley Palmer , had devised

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1782-471: The Caribbean lowlands. It also dominated regional transportation networks through its International Railways of Central America and its Great White Fleet of steamships. In addition, UFCO branched out in 1913 by creating the Tropical Radio and Telegraph Company. UFCO's policies of acquiring tax breaks and other benefits from host governments led to it building enclave economies in the regions, in which

1863-473: The Company built extensive railroads and ports, provided employment and transportation, and created numerous schools for the people who lived and worked on Company land. On the other hand, it allowed vast tracts of land under its ownership to remain uncultivated and, in Guatemala and elsewhere, it discouraged the government from building highways, which would have lessened the profitable transportation monopoly of

1944-466: The Costa Rican government defaulted on its payments in 1882, Keith had to borrow £ 1.2 million from London banks and from private investors to continue the difficult engineering project. In exchange for this and for renegotiating Costa Rica's own debt, in 1884, the administration of President Próspero Fernández Oreamuno agreed to give Keith 800,000 acres (3,200 km ) of tax-free land along

2025-582: The Guatemala operation. Company holdings in Cuba , which included sugar mills in the Oriente region of the island, were expropriated by the 1959 revolutionary government led by Fidel Castro . By April 1960 Castro was accusing the company of aiding Cuban exiles and supporters of former leader Fulgencio Batista in initiating a seaborne invasion of Cuba directed from the United States. Castro warned

2106-567: The Honduran declaration of independence in 1838 from the Central American Federation, Honduras was in a state of economic and political strife due to constant conflict with neighboring countries for territorial expansion and control. Liberal President Marco Aurelio Soto (1876–1883) saw instating the Agrarian Law of 1877 as a way to make Honduras more appealing to international companies looking to invest capital into

2187-457: The Honduran government or in some cases it was permitted by U.S. companies, such as United Fruit Co., to create long-term contracts with independent producers on devastatingly diseased infested districts. Even once granted land concessions, many were so severely contaminated with either the Panaman, moko, or sigatoka, that it would have to reduce the acreage used and the amount produced or changed

2268-596: The Honduran strike. By the second week of May 11,000 Standard Fruit Company employees join the strike. Simultaneously, laborers in others sector of the economy go on strike too, including miners, brewers, and textile workers. May 16: The strikers present their "pliego de peticiones" to manager Aycock in La Lima. They quote the Universal Declarations of the Rights of Man and demand an increase in wages. At

2349-535: The November 1911 Honduran presidential elections. In 1912, General Bonilla quickly granted the second railroad concession to the newly incorporated Cuyamel Fruit Company owned by Zemurray. The period of some of these exclusive railroad land concessions was up to 99 years. The first railroad concession leased the national railroad of Honduras to the Vaccaro Bros. and Co. (once Standard Fruit Company and currently Dole Food Company ). Zemurray granted his concession to

2430-466: The Spanish Main – via Boston and New Orleans written and illustrated by Henry R. Blaney. The travel book featured landscapes and portraits of the inhabitants pertaining to the regions where the United Fruit Company possessed land. It also described the voyage of the United Fruit Company's steamer, and Blaney's descriptions and encounters of his travels. In 1901, the government of Guatemala hired

2511-410: The Standard Fruit company among others. A detailed timeline can be seen below: HONDURAS: May 5. The workers of the United Fruit Company go on strike demanding higher wages and are followed by the Standard Fruit workers. This strike paralyzes all banana operations and peaks with 25,000 striking workers (around 15% of all the country's labor force) May 7: United Fruit manager J. F. Aycock declares that

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2592-574: The Tela Railroad Company—another division within his own company. Cuyamel Fruit Company's concession would also be awarded to the Tela Railroad Company. United Fruit Company (currently Chiquita Brands International ) would partner with President Bonilla in the exchange of access and control of Honduran natural resources plus tax and financial incentives. In return, President Bonilla would receive cooperation, protection and

2673-539: The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (see Operation PBSuccess ). The directors of United Fruit Company (UFCO) had lobbied to convince the Truman and Eisenhower administrations that Colonel Árbenz intended to align Guatemala with the Eastern Bloc . Besides the disputed issue of Árbenz's allegiance to communism, UFCO was being threatened by the Árbenz government's agrarian reform legislation and new Labor Code. UFCO

2754-457: The U.S. that "Cuba is not another Guatemala" in one of many combative diplomatic exchanges before the U.S. organized the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. In the 20th century, many parts of Latin America were not positively operated and invested in compared to the region of Costa Rica. The United Fruit Company, according to researchers, made positive impacts in the region that continued past

2835-514: The UFCo. According to Yale Insights, the impact of the infrastructure still persists today in astonishing numbers. In 1973, households living within the boundaries of UFCo were 26% less likely to be poor compared to outside households. A most recent research statistic in 2011, states that only 63% of the poverty gap had closed by 2011. The impact of the UFCo investment in capital among families had statistically paid off as outside work options had around

2916-521: The United Fruit Company here in Bogotá stated yesterday that the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military authorities during the recent disturbance reached between five and six hundred; while the number of soldiers killed was one. The dispatch from the U.S. embassy to the U.S. Secretary of State, dated January 16, 1929, stated: I have the honor to report that the Bogotá representative of

2997-544: The United Fruit Company to manage the country's postal service, and in 1913 the United Fruit Company created the Tropical Radio and Telegraph Company . By 1930, it had absorbed more than 20 rival firms, acquiring a capital of $ 215 million and becoming the largest employer in Central America. In 1930, Sam Zemurray (nicknamed "Sam the Banana Man") sold his Cuyamel Fruit Company to United Fruit and retired from

3078-472: The United Fruit Company told me yesterday that the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military exceeded one thousand. The Banana massacre is said to be one of the main events that preceded the Bogotazo , the subsequent era of violence known as La Violencia , and the guerrillas who developed in the bipartisan National Front period, creating the ongoing armed conflict in Colombia . Following

3159-659: The United States and Europe. The company was formed in 1899 from the merger of the Boston Fruit Company with Minor C. Keith 's banana-trading enterprises. It flourished in the early and mid-20th century, and it came to control vast territories and transportation networks in Central America, the Caribbean coast of Colombia , and the West Indies . Although it competed with the Standard Fruit Company (later Dole Food Company ) for dominance in

3240-429: The archetypal example of the influence of a multinational corporation on the internal politics of the so-called banana republics. After a period of financial decline, United Fruit merged with Eli M. Black 's AMK in 1970 to become the United Brands Company . In 1984, Carl Lindner, Jr. transformed United Brands into the present-day Chiquita Brands International . In 1871, U.S. railroad entrepreneur Henry Meiggs signed

3321-484: The author himself grew up in close proximity to the incident. The climax of García Márquez 's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude is based on the events in Ciénaga. General Cortés Vargas issued the order to shoot, arguing later that he had done so because of information that US boats were poised to land troops on Colombian coasts to defend American personnel and the interests of the United Fruit Company. Vargas issued

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3402-569: The banana and the effects of these practices created noticeable environmental degradation when it was a thriving company. Infrastructure built by the company was constructed by clearing out forests, filling in low, swampy areas, and installing sewage, drainage, and water systems. Ecosystems that existed on these lands were destroyed, devastating biodiversity. With a loss in biodiversity, other natural processes within nature necessary for plant and animal survival are shut down. Techniques used for farming were at fault for loss of biodiversity and harm to

3483-513: The banana import business in the United States, then their main source of income. The company catapulted into financial success. Bradley Palmer overnight became a much-sought-after expert in business law, as well as a wealthy man. He later became a consultant to presidents and an adviser to Congress. In 1900, the United Fruit Company produced The Golden Caribbean: A Winter Visit to the Republics of Colombia, Costa Rica, Spanish Honduras, Belize and

3564-519: The bankruptcy and ceasing of production in 1984. Since 1880 with the first initial U.S investment in 4% of the country's territory, the UFCO grew in Costa Rica to develop around 7% of their labor force. With a growing labor force and plantations expanding, camps for farmers and families emerged. With the emergence of the workforce came the construction of commissaries, schools, electric plants, sewage systems, hospitals, and recreation facilities all funded by

3645-427: The bass population greatly impacted the native fish population, and continued to grow. The 55-gallon drums imported by the UFCO has led this American export to grow and become genetically superior in the warmer and longer growing seasons. Although UFCO sometimes promoted the development of the nations where it operated, its long-term effects on their economy and infrastructure were often devastating. In Central America,

3726-613: The company and renamed it Chiquita Brands International. The headquarters was moved to Cincinnati in 1985. By 2019, the company's main offices left the United States and relocated to Switzerland. Throughout most of its history, United Fruit's main competitor was the Standard Fruit Company , now the Dole Food Company . The United Fruit Company is reported to have been involved in bribing government officials in exchange for preferential treatment and working to consolidate monopolies. Latin American journalists sometimes referred to

3807-725: The company as el pulpo ("the octopus"), and leftist parties in Latin America encouraged the company's workers to strike. Criticism of the United Fruit Company became a staple of the discourse of the communist parties in several Latin American countries, where its activities were often interpreted as illustrating Vladimir Lenin 's theory of capitalist imperialism . Major far-left writers in Latin America, such as Carlos Luis Fallas of Costa Rica, Ramón Amaya Amador of Honduras, Miguel Ángel Asturias and Augusto Monterroso of Guatemala, Gabriel García Márquez of Colombia, Carmen Lyra of Costa Rica, and Pablo Neruda of Chile, denounced

3888-408: The company had to be politically involved in the region even though it was an American company. In fact, the heavy-handed involvement of the company in often-corrupt governments created the term " banana republic ", which represents a servile dictatorship. The term "Banana Republic" was coined by American writer O. Henry . The United Fruit Company's entire process of creating a plantation to farming

3969-444: The company in their literature: The Fruit Company, Inc. reserved for itself the most succulent piece, the central coast of my own land, the delicate waist of America. It rechristened its territories 'Banana Republics', and over the sleeping dead, over the restless heroes who brought about the greatness, the liberty, and the flags, it established the comic opera: it abolished free will, gave out imperial crowns, encouraged envy, attracted

4050-419: The company sold off the last of its Guatemalan holdings after over a decade of decline. Even as the Árbenz government was being overthrown, in 1954 a general strike against the company organized by workers in Honduras rapidly paralyzed that country, and, due to the United States' concern about the events in Guatemala, was settled more favorably for the workers in order for the United States to gain leverage for

4131-464: The company was acquired by the Castle & Cooke Corporation, which also acquired James Dole 's Hawaiian Pineapple Company (HAPCO) around the same time. In 1991, Castle & Cooke was renamed Dole Food Company . Castle & Cooke Inc, a real estate company, was spun off in 1995 and, following a 2000 management buyout, is now privately held. In 1954, there was a general strike in Honduras against

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4212-462: The company would not negotiate as long as the workers are on strike. That day, the strike expands to La Ceiba, Standard Fruit center of operations. Contrary to United Fruit, Standard offers to negotiate with striking workers. May 9. The American ambassador in Honduras says that the country's strike had been inspired by Guatemalan communists. In addition, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles suggests that Guatemala Arbenz's government might be behind

4293-493: The crop being produced. Additionally, accusations were reported of the Tela Railroad Company placing intense requirements, demanding exclusivity in distribution, and unjustly denying crops produced by small-scale farmers because they were deemed "inadequate". Compromise was attempted between small-scale fruit producers and the multinationals enterprises but were never reached and resulted in local resistance. Eli M. Black Eli Menashe Black (April 9, 1921 – February 3, 1975)

4374-455: The democratically elected government of Guatemala and installed a pro-business military dictatorship. In 1967, it acquired the A&;W Restaurants . Corporate raider Eli M. Black bought 733,000 shares of United Fruit in 1968, becoming the company's largest shareholder. In June 1970, Black merged United Fruit with his own public company, AMK (owner of meat packer John Morrell ), to create

4455-405: The dictatorship of flies ... flies sticky with submissive blood and marmalade, drunken flies that buzz over the tombs of the people, circus flies, wise flies expert at tyranny. The business practices of United Fruit were also frequently criticized by journalists, politicians, and artists in the United States. Little Steven released a song in 1987 called "Bitter Fruit", with lyrics that referred to

4536-650: The first three quarters of the year. Black struggled to keep the company solvent, and in December United Brands announced that it was selling its interest in Foster Grant, Inc. for $ 70 million. On February 3, 1975, Black went to his office on the forty-fourth floor of the Pan Am Building in Manhattan . At about 8:00 a.m., he fell to his death, landing on the northbound Park Avenue Viaduct beside motorists. Homicide detectives concluded that

4617-418: The fruit business. By then, the company held a major role in the national economies of several countries and eventually became a symbol of the exploitative export economy. This led to serious labor disputes by the Costa Rican peasants, involving more than 30 separate unions and 100,000 workers, in the 1934 Great Banana Strike , one of the most significant actions of the era by trade unions in Costa Rica . By

4698-402: The international banana trade, it maintained a virtual monopoly in certain regions, some of which came to be called banana republics – such as Costa Rica , Honduras , and Guatemala . United Fruit had a deep and long-lasting effect on the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Critics often accused it of exploitative neocolonialism , and they described it as

4779-485: The land as well. To create farmland, the United Fruit Company would either clear forests (as mentioned) or would drain marshlands to reduce avian habitats and to create "good" soil for banana plant growth. The most common practice in farming was called the "shifting plantation agriculture" . This is done by using produced soil fertility and hydrological resources in the most intense manner, then relocating when yields fell, and pathogens followed banana plants. In addition to

4860-410: The land was intended to be developed for the greater good of the public with a possibility of being the granted "full private ownership" versus dominio pleno was the immediate granting of full private ownership with the right to sell . Based on the 1898 Honduran agrarian law, without being sanctioned the right their communal lands, Honduran villages and towns could only regain these lands if granted by

4941-507: The loss of biodiversity, many new species were introduced into the environment including the largemouth bass. Largemouth Bass, a popular fish in the United States has made it all over the globe through exports. Lake Yojoa in Honduras was home to many largemouth bass not native to the region. Stemming from a United Fruit Company social club event, a group of North American employees wanting to indulge in their love for fishing, introduced 1,800 largemouth bass from Florida. From 1954-55 to about 1970,

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5022-410: The most severe violence was directed at workers on the plantations of the United Fruit Company. Despite UFCO's government connections and conflicts of interest, the overthrow of Árbenz failed to benefit the company. Its stock market value declined along with its profit margin. The Eisenhower administration proceeded with antitrust action against the company, which forced it to divest in 1958. In 1972,

5103-465: The new laws. In 1952, the government of Guatemala began expropriating unused United Fruit Company land to landless peasants. The company responded by intensively lobbying the U.S. government to intervene and mounting a misinformation campaign to portray the Guatemalan government as communist . In 1954, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency armed, funded, and trained a military force that deposed

5184-569: The number of casualties vary from 47 to 3,000. The military justified this action stating that the strike was subversive, and its organizers were Communist revolutionaries. Congressman Jorge Eliécer Gaitán claimed that the army had acted under instructions from the United Fruit Company. The ensuing scandal contributed to President Miguel Abadía Méndez 's Conservative Party being voted out of office in 1930, putting an end to 44 years of Conservative rule in Colombia. The first novel of Álvaro Cepeda Samudio , La Casa Grande , focuses on this event, and

5265-688: The order so the United States would not invade Colombia. The telegram from Bogotá Embassy to the U.S. Secretary of State, dated December 5, 1928, stated: I have been following Santa Marta fruit strike through United Fruit Company representative here; also through Minister of Foreign Affairs who on Saturday told me government would send additional troops and would arrest all strike leaders and transport them to prison at Cartagena ; that government would give adequate protection to American interests involved. The telegram from Bogotá Embassy to Secretary of State, date December 7, 1928, stated: Situation outside Santa Marta City unquestionably very serious: outside zone

5346-812: The outstanding shares of United Fruit on the open market, while outbidding other companies, and gained a controlling interest. In 1970, AMK merged with United Fruit Company , and adopted the name United Brands . Black became chairman, president, and CEO. At that time, United Fruit was importing about a third of all the bananas sold in the US and owned the Chiquita banana brand. But Black soon discovered that United Fruit had far less capital than he had believed. The company soon became crippled with debt. The company's losses were exacerbated by Hurricane Fifi in 1974, which destroyed many of its banana plantations in Honduras . In 1974, United Brands reported losses of $ 40 million for

5427-406: The partnership his plantations in the West Indies , a fleet of steamships, and his market in the U.S. Northeast. Keith brought his plantations and railroads in Central America and his market in the U.S. South and Southeast. At its founding, United Fruit was capitalized at $ 11.23 million. The company at Palmer's direction proceeded to buy, or buy a share in, 14 competitors, assuring them of 80% of

5508-519: The quarter-inch glass window was broken with Black's attaché case and classified his death a suicide. A few weeks later the Securities and Exchange Commission uncovered a 1.25-million-dollar bribe that United Brands paid to Honduran president Oswaldo López Arellano under authorization by Black in order to obtain a reduction of taxes on banana exports. After Black's death, Seymour Milstein and Paul Milstein bought into United Fruit. Black

5589-406: The railroad, plus a 99-year lease on the operation of the train route. The railroad was completed in 1890, but the flow of passengers proved insufficient to finance Keith's debt. However, the sale of bananas grown in his lands and transported first by train to Limón, then by ship to the United States, proved very lucrative. Keith eventually came to dominate the banana trade in Central America and along

5670-460: The railroads under its control. UFCO also destroyed at least one of those railroads upon leaving its area of operation. In 1954, the Guatemalan government of Colonel Jacobo Árbenz , elected in 1950, was toppled by forces led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas who invaded from Honduras . Commissioned by the Eisenhower administration, this military operation was armed, trained and organized by

5751-568: The same time, the workers of Coca-Cola in La Ceiba and Puerto Cortes strike. Shortly after the protests began, the Honduran President Manuel Galvez expels two Guatemalan consuls charging them of instigation. May 18: Standard Fruit opens negotiations with the workers under governmental arbitration. The company agrees to increase wages and improve working conditions, making this the first time in Honduran history that

5832-405: The welcoming Honduran nation. All the while Honduran bureaucrats would continue to take away the indigenous communal lands to trade for capital investment contracts as well as neglect the fair rights of Honduran laborers. After the peak of the banana republic era, resistance eventually began to grown on the part of small-scale producers and production laborers, due to the exponential rate in growth of

5913-604: The yacht "Hornet", formerly known as the USS Hornet and recently purchased by Zemurray in New Orleans. With a gang of New Orleans mercenaries and plenty of arms and ammunition, they sailed to Roatan to attack, then seize the northern Honduran ports of Trujillo and La Ceiba . Unbeknownst to Zemurray, he was being watched by the US Secret Service . Having captured the aging fort at Roatan, he quickly sold

5994-451: Was United Fruit's principal lobbyist, was married to President Eisenhower's personal secretary, Ann C. Whitman . Many individuals who directly influenced U.S. policy towards Guatemala in the 1950s also had direct ties to UFCO. After the overthrow of Árbenz, a military dictatorship was established under Carlos Castillo Armas. Soon after coming to power, the new government launched a concerted campaign against trade unionists, in which some of

6075-483: Was also a member of the law firm, Sullivan and Cromwell , which had represented United Fruit. His brother Allen Dulles , director of the CIA, was also a board member of United Fruit. United Fruit Company is the only company known to have a CIA cryptonym . The brother of the Assistant Secretary of State for InterAmerican Affairs, John Moors Cabot , had once been president of United Fruit. Ed Whitman, who

6156-707: Was an American businessman. He controlled the United Brands Company . His son Leon Black co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management . Born Elihu Menashe Blachowicz as the youngest of three children to Chaje Schulson and Benzion “Benjamin” Blachowicz in Lublin , Poland, he immigrated to the United States along with his mother and sisters via the SS Republic on February 19, 1925 to join their father in New York City. The Yiddish -speaking family lived in Lower East Side , where his father worked as

6237-447: Was an important step that would eventually lead to the formation of effective trade unions in Costa Rica since the company was required to sign a collective agreement with its workers in 1938. Labor laws in most banana production countries began to be tightened in the 1930s. United Fruit Company saw itself as being specifically targeted by the reforms, and often refused to negotiate with strikers, despite frequently being in violation of

6318-488: Was head of the CIA under Eisenhower, also did legal work for United Fruit. The Dulles brothers and Sullivan & Cromwell were on the United Fruit payroll for thirty-eight years. Recent research has uncovered the names of multiple other government officials who received benefits from United Fruit: John Foster Dulles, who represented United Fruit while he was a law partner at Sullivan & Cromwell – he negotiated that crucial United Fruit deal with Guatemalan officials in

6399-623: Was married to artist Shirley Lubell (sister of Oklahoma oil executive Benedict I. Lubell and art dealer Grace Borgenicht Brandt ). They had two children: daughter Judy Schlosberg and son Leon Black , founding member of private equity firm Apollo Management . Black served as a trustee of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts , The American Jewish Committee , the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies , Babson College ,

6480-414: Was that UFCO was able to prevent the government from distributing land to peasants who wanted a share of the banana trade. The fact that the UFCO relied so heavily on manipulating land use rights to maintain their market dominance had a number of long-term consequences for the region. For the company to maintain its unequal land holdings it often required government concessions. And this in turn meant that

6561-484: Was the largest landowner and employer in Guatemala, and the Árbenz government's land reform program included the expropriation of 40% of UFCO land. U.S. officials had little proof to back their claims of a growing communist threat in Guatemala; however, the relationship between the Eisenhower administration and UFCO demonstrated the influence of corporate interest on U.S. foreign policy. United States Secretary of State John Foster Dulles , an avowed opponent of communism,

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