Among the multitude of American corporations, few stand out like the United Fruit Company. Reviled the world over, United Fruit was one of America’s most notable early multinational corporations. Operating all over Latin America and peddling their produce across the globe, United Fruit would get its start in Costa Rica, a small Central American country nestled between Nicaragua and Panama. The decision to attempt to modernize Costa Rica by General Tomás Guardia would prove to be a fateful one that forever altered the course of Central America.
To understand the machinations of General Guardia, we must first look briefly at Costa Rica’s historical situation. As noted by innumerable books and articles on the subject, the term “Costa Rica” was something of a misnomer for the country until the coffee-boom of the 1830s and 40s. The “rich coast” was named, as legend has it, by Christopher Columbus himself after landing there in 1502 and seeing natives adorned with gold. Ironically, the natives witnessed by Columbus were not natives at all, but invading members of the Carib tribe that had brought their own gold to this relatively poor place. True to form, Columbus displayed a stunning misinterpretation of the facts and coined the site “Costa Rica” (Watkins). This “discovery” in 1502 would, as in the rest of Latin America, herald the end of life as the indigenous knew it. For the next 300 years Costa Rica would find itself under Spanish control, yet this burden was significantly lightened by the absence of riches the Europeans craved. These long centuries under Spanish influence would find Costa Rica in the position of the periphery, relatively spared from the harsh rule often employed in more profitable sectors.
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...uiesced, and died soon after (Colby 66, Chapman 38-39). The death of Costa Rica’s leader opened room for Keith to become even more central to the economy, and, equipped with 800,000 new acres of land, that’s precisely what he did (Colby 67). With unprecedented access to the nation’s finances and a government willing to sign over as much land as needed, Keith began to make his empire.
As exports from bananas continued to create wealth, Keith continued to form plantations on his Costa Rican lands while overseeing the completion of the railroad. Finally, in 1890, the task originally taken up by his uncle had been accomplished. However, the railroad was far from first in his mind. Seeking to become a powerful force in the increasingly lucrative banana industry, Keith began to open plantations in the surrounding countries of Nicaragua, Panama, and Colombia (Colby 69).
“Liberals believed in free markets and where made up of many industry leaders.” (Class Discussion). A foreign consumer of banana’s on the other hand wouldn’t agree with this theory of Latin American superiority and patriotism. This character would believe it is a good thing that foreign countries are exploiting Latin America because he is purchasing the product. “Without these companies, we wouldn't have bananas.” (Class Discussion) These consumers believe that there is no harm being done and possibly it is actually good thats being done to the Latin American economy. Distinctively from these characters listed above, Jose Marti would one hundred percent agree with Calle 13’s “latinoamerica.” In Jose Marti’s “Our America” he explains how Latin Americans must not show weakness but patriotism, that they should be proud to be Latinos, and that hard work is the only way to move forward. In “Our America” Jose Marti states: “Those without faith in their country are seven-month weaklings. Because they have not courage, they deny it to the others.” This is a direct attack to those who lack patriotism and are not proud to be Latin American, he states that they are the weak link. This idea directly correlates to what Calle 13 portrays in
While it is still unsure when and how banana cultivators reached the Americas, it is sure that they have been present in the region for about 400 years. Banana trade formed itself around a single species of banana called Gros Michel. The banana is a narrow genetic base that shapes its future export production in tedious ways. For example, Argo-ecosystems were a result of small and large-scale production of Gros Michel bananas. Which are “places created and transformed by fluid processes that are subject to change over time and space” (Soluri 5). Natural habitats were replaced and spaces were created that invited the pathogens with Gros Michel’s monocultures, which caused problems for
During the second half of the twentieth century, when the Cold War was on its midst, the United States played an important role in world affairs. The increasing military power that the United States had during the Cold War, allowed it to influence the political decisions that many countries had during this time. The United States directly opposed the idea of communism, which the Soviet Union promoted. This conflict between this two great powers, lasted for five decades, and it tremendously affected the political ideologies of the world. Both countries tried to push their political and economic interest to as many nations as they could, especially those close to their borders. During this time, Guatemala was undergoing a social revolution with communist ideas. The revolution happened as a response to the social injustice committed by the United Fruit Company. The United Fruit Company started to lose land, due to a land reform passed b...
Sinaloa Mexico is known as the home of the world’s largest and most powerful drug cartel. Sinaloa is also the largest producer and exporter of tomatoes to the United States and Canada. “Half of all Mexican fruit and vegetable exports come from the state of Sinaloa, located in northwestern Mexico. Sinaloa mainly exports in the winter season, primarily vegetables, and fresh market tomatoes are the number one export crop” (Cook). In 2012, “Sinaloa exported 950,000 tons of vegetables, mostly tomatoes and mostly to California and other parts of the United States, worth nearly $1 billion. Half the tomatoes eaten in the United States” during winter months “are from Sinaloa” (Wilkinson).
Prior to the colonization of the region now known as Costa Rica, meaning Rich Coast, approximately 25 indigenous tribes were thriving in self-established societies. One of the preeminent tribes of Costa Rica was that of the Chorotegas, with the tribe’s name translating to “fleeing people.” Over 1,500 years ago, the Chorotegas migrated from Mexico to the northwestern region of Costa Rica, now known as the Guanacaste Province and the Nicoya Peninsula. Mexican influence was evident in the tribe’s culture, as indicated by the Chorotegan language, Mangue, the primarily Aztecan calendar that they utilized, as well as other practices such as self-mutilation. The Chorotegan society was largely focused on the tribe’s polytheistic religion, with priests maintaining a high status on the social hierarchy. Additionally, agriculture played a significant role in the Chorotegan lifestyle, corn being the crop that was primarily harvested; cacao beans were utilized as a form of currency and crops were distributed to ensure that no one would go without food. Further, due to the fact that the Chorotegas frequently warred with other tribes, they established a strong military force as a form of defense. This military force would later play an
This was the US verse the USSR, with the idea of democracy against communism. Because of the mutual assurance of destruction, there was no direct fighting between Soviet Union and America, but instead other tactics were used to prevent the spreading of communism (The Cold War). In effort to prevent this, America went to extreme measures, becoming secretive in the way in which they handled situations. In the Red Scare, a time in which American’s feared communists in the country, citizens were analyzed to determine if they were spies for Soviet, or against America’s government values. Innocent Americans were accused of these assumptions, sent to jail, shunned from society, creating a large amount of mistrust with the citizens and government. Other events during the Cold War included Coup d’états led by the American government. These consisted of actions intended to change another country’s government, in a forceful way. In 1954, the Guatemalan coup d’état was carried out by the United States CIA to change Guatemala’s government, as they feared they were taking communist actions. This took place during the Guatemalan revolution, where the reforms happening included minimum wage laws, and increase in education funding. This affected the United Fruit Company; an American company ran in Guatemala. The United Fruit Company owned 47% of Guatemalan land, most of which was unused. During the reform, Guatemala’s government redistributed that unused land to citizens, causing America to become upset (1954 Guatemalan Coup D’état). With the minimum wage laws, the UFC would also have to pay their workers more in order to stay, and they were against that. The hope was to end foreign companies leading Guatemala, but because of events around the world, the US took this as a communist threat. America teamed up with dictator Carlos Castillo Armas, to scare Guatemala into thinking he had a huge army of men coming to potentially
The other group and I did not have an initial strategy due to the complexity of the situation. This issues at hand seemed extremely important, the amount of time given for the negotiation was not enough. My other and I realized that we both need the Ugali orange to fulfill our goal. We tried to determine which one of us needs it the most. The need for it on both side were equality grave, so we had great interest in the Ugali orange. We decide that putting our money together would increase our chances of being the highest bidders to win the oranges. We were more concern about the issues to the point of forget or overlooking our past relationship issues. The issues seemed more important than the relationship because many people’s life were going
I learned more than I ever imagined on my summer study abroad trip to Costa Rica. I learned that Costa Rica is a country like no other. The country is much different than what the United States of America is like. The lifestyles, customs, and practices of Costa Rica are very different than those that I am accustomed to. As an outsider looking into the country, I saw a country that is very poor financially but very rich in spirit. They do not appreciate wealth as United States citizens do, but instead appreciate love and gratitude. I noticed that Costa Ricans have very strong family values and cultural roots.
The United States of America and Costa Rica’s constitutions have several similarities and differences. The United States and Costa Rica have two of the most successful constitutional republics in the history of the world. They are alike in several ways, however, there are some major differences that allows them to thrive in their own environments. There are many components that describe the two countries: physical structure, traditions and how the constitutions were established, how the constitutions work, languages, military, religion, education, voting rights, presidential elections, and structure of the legislative branch, presidential terms, vice presidents, and Supreme Court justices.
Bruneau,C.,(2005, May).The Maras and national security in Central America. Strategic insights (5). Retrieved from http://www.nps.edu/academics/centers/publications/onlinejournal/2005/may/bruneaumay05.html
The fact is Ricardito shows pitty for himself and is no longer the hero he was a few years back when he made his country grow and be in the eyes of many people around the world. We see present the change of fortune of this politicians life; having all the riches any one could want to becoming a political refugee. Aristotle uses a word that defines the time that the Martinelli family is going through and that is “ adversity”. The news show the amount of adversity there is in
Would you prefer vacationing in a dense jungle or a scorching hot desert? Thankfully, I have had the privilege to do both. Over the past year, I have traveled to the beautiful rainforests of Costa Rica and the barren wilderness of Bonaire. By studying the parallels and differences of both destinations, one has the ability to understand the travel expectations, habitats, and activities of Costa Rica and Bonaire.
In 1899 the first banana concession was granted to the Vacarro brothers; their company would later become Standard Fruit. In 1907 Sam Zemurray set up the Cuyamel Fruit Company; later bought by United Fruit. The unequal relationship that would exist between the companies and the Honduran state for the first half of the 20th century gave rise to the description "banana republic." Between 1932 and 1948 Honduras was ruled by a dictator, Tiburcio Carias Andino.
However, this does not necessarily mean colonizing Latin America, but rather having it allied and influenced by the United States' mentality and agenda. The book describes the tactics used by the United States to align these countries' policies and politics with its own. The book effectively portrays the role of the United States in the political affairs of Latin American countries. Higgins examines the Eisenhower administration's invasion of Guatemala, which resulted in a revolt to remove the leftist President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán. The Arbenz administration posed a threat to the dominance of American companies in Guatemala, particularly the United Fruit Company.
Costa Rica is located in Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and North Pacific Ocean, between Nicaragua and Panama. Costa Rica enjoys the political environment of a democratic republic. The country is open to economic integration of the greater region, being a member of the Central American Common Market(CACM), subscribing to a uniform external tariff and to free-trade internally. Costa Rica also supports the Puebla-panama plan, initiated by Mexico’s president Vincent Fox, which intends the ‘Mesoamerican’ integration of Mexico’s struggling southern states and all seven Central American countries. In addition, since 1948, Costa Rica has not had a military, and despite severe turbulences and civil wars in Central America and border conflicts with Nicaragua and Panama, it has successfully maneuvered itself through these times.