United Fruit Company: a history and its effects

To reiterate from my last post about Minor Keith and his company, it was established in Costa Rica at the end of the 1800s. He was given land on both sides of the nation because he helped build the railroad connecting the Central Valley to both bodies of water. Along with his railroad, Keith planted bananas alongside the rails. On the eastern coast, the bananas grew at alarming rates; Costa Rica became one of the top producers of bananas.

United Fruit Company was based in New Orleans

Minor Keith grew his business and let it branch into different Central American countries. The most infamous example was Guatemala. United Fruit Company held a massive influence on the region. During the Great Depression, the company capped the workers' pay at 50 cents; the business ended up making twice the revenue of the Guatemalan government. With growing anti-American sentiment, in 1954 there was a coup d'état. The old Guatemalan government was replaced with a dictator that was backed by the United States. This coup was encouraged by the United Fruit Company since the old government wanted to kick the business out for exploiting their nation.

In 1978, Panama Disease (a type of root fungus) was introduced to the Pacific coast bananas which decimated the population. Since those bananas could no longer thrive on that side of the coast, they were replaced with palm oil plantations. Plus since most of the banana population was killed off, there was the creation of artificial banana flavoring. This flavoring was made from a different species of bananas. That's why bananas do not taste the same as their artificial flavoring.

Even though today the United Fruit Company has been disbanded into many smaller companies such as Dole and Chiquita, there are still remains of its presence. 

Diquis Delta where the stone spheres are found 

Found at Finca 6, these elevated pipes stretch through the hectares that are now labelled as a World Heritage Site. United Fruit Company used to own the area where the mysterious stone spheres were found in Southwestern Costa Rica. The sites at which the stone spheres were found at still bear their plantation names.

banana rails at Finca 6

The pipes were used to transport the ripe bananas. The ripe bananas were placed on hooks hanging from the top pipe while a worker ran with a rope tied to their back. 

Some parts of the ground were dug up to create irrigation ditches. For the workers to be able to cross these ditches when they're flooded, there is a small bundle of pipes bolted to the ground to create a miniature bridge. For the unbalanced, these small bridges can be the cause of many problems. Some of the pipe bridges even wobble when somebody is trying to cross it. 

Also, the bananas are grown in plastic bags. In the 1950s, the plantation workers decided that it was too much trouble to cart away the remains of the bags. So after the worker cut into the bag, they let the shreds fall to the ground. It became a common practice, so at Finca 6 there are still pieces of the bags littering the ground and some pieces are even buried by sediment thus placing it into a part of the soil horizon. 

Even though the United Fruit Company has been gone for a few decades, there is still an aftermath in Latin America. Between the political and environmental corruption, the countries controlled by the United Fruit Company will have some time before they recover from the neo-imperialism.