| The banana is an odd thing. It's not a fruit and it doesn't | | | | shown a firm hand. |
| grow on trees. It is an herb and grows on a plant with | | | | Knowing this puts into perspective the current mistrust |
| a strong fibrous stem. Although the developed world | | | | and dislike of the United Sates among many of Latin |
| loves 'dessert' bananas, it is the green non-sweet | | | | America's leaders. |
| cooking banana or plantain that keeps many people | | | | The United Fruit Company really pushed the banana. |
| alive during the 'hunger season' when one crop has | | | | At home they aggressively advertised the miraculous |
| finished and a new one is not ready for harvest. | | | | benefits of the food and in Central America they |
| Bananas grow all year round and so are a vital staple | | | | monopolised the banana production. Often they |
| to combat the bleak periods between crops. India is | | | | managed to persuade Central American governments |
| the largest producer of bananas, followed by China. | | | | that not only should they be given vast areas of forest |
| These two countries consume most of their banana | | | | for free, but also that the aforementioned Central |
| harvest internally. | | | | American governments should fund the building of |
| It is when we look to the main exporting countries of | | | | extensive railway lines to help with the rapid |
| bananas that we leave the realm of subsistence diets | | | | movement of the banana harvest. |
| and important food crops and enter instead into the | | | | And what did the average plantation worker get? |
| territory of big business, exploitation, environmental | | | | Something very much resembling the hell described by |
| devastation, corporate greed and murder. The top four | | | | Steinbeck in his work The Grapes of Wrath. They |
| exporters of bananas are Ecuador, Costa Rica, the | | | | worked 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, had no |
| Philippines and Colombia. Of these big four only the | | | | access to proper medical care and were paid in 'scrip' |
| Philippines escaped the malignant influence of the | | | | that could only be exchanged at the company shop. In |
| United Fruit Comapany. | | | | short it was slavery for thousands. And the United |
| The United Fruit Company was formed in 1899 and it | | | | States government turned a blind eye to it. And the |
| would grow into a massive corporate empire that | | | | American housewife who bought bananas had no idea |
| would last until 1975 when it's CEO Eli M Black jumped | | | | of the blood and injustice perpetrated on the people in |
| out the 44th floor of the Pan Am Building in New York | | | | Central and South America in order to get bananas |
| City. During that 76 year span The United Fruit | | | | onto the shelves of supermarkets. |
| Company ran Central America like its own personal | | | | The environment was the other great loser. As the |
| fiefdom and gave a startling new meaning to O | | | | banana grew in popularity in the States so more and |
| Henry's phrase 'banana republic'. | | | | more of the Central American forests were cleared to |
| The company was behind several regime changes in | | | | keep up with demand. The land was subjected to |
| countries such as Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador | | | | harsher and harsher pesticides to keep disease at bay. |
| and Costa Rica. Their boats were used during the | | | | This polluted vital water supplies and harmed the rest |
| botched counter revolution attempted at the Bay of | | | | of the forest. |
| Pigs in Cuba. The famous massacre of strikers in | | | | It is told excellently and in frightening detail by Peter |
| Cienaga, Colombia on December 6th 1928 was the | | | | Chapman in his book, Bananas - How the United Fruit |
| work of the United Fruit Company pulling the strings of | | | | Company shaped the World. |
| the Colombian government. It seemed that there was | | | | After reading the book I'm reluctant to buy another |
| no outrage, no political machination that the United Fruit | | | | banana from a supermarket. Besides I much prefer |
| Company couldn't get away with. The company had | | | | the taste of bananas that have ripened naturally not in |
| powerful friends in the Boston elite who persuaded | | | | a hot room. So I will wait until I go on holiday to India or |
| successive Presidents that the company's interests | | | | Thailand again to eat another banana in good |
| were the same as the country's. And striking workers | | | | conscience. |
| were anarchists and communists who needed to be | | | | |