A banna republic is defined as a nation that relies almost exclusively on one export for its entire economy to function. One of the earliest and most famous examples of a banana republic is the Central American nation of Guatemala. Where their sole export was the banana the export was bringing in millions of dollars for the United Fruit company. This is where the suffering of Guatemala begins.
“The United Fruit Company”. The company was beginning by Captain Lorenzo Don Baker due to the fact that when he made a stop in Jamaica he saw bananas and brought them back to Boston he saw that Americans loved the fruit. This then lead to baker actually opening several stores and he began making hundreds of dollars by importing bananas from nations all over the Caribbean and central America. Yet Baker and his associated wanted to be able to now be able to control land where he grew his bananas where people had not used before, this is why he then decided to set his sights on a small nation in central America Guatemala. With the help of Minor Keith, a man who was trying to open railroads all over central America. United fruit was able to buy land all over Guatemala. The company was prosperous for many years in the nation. Also Untied Fruit had control over Purto Barrios which meant they also made money from any good entering or leaving the nation. Yet this then lead to a problem, there was much land disparity in the nation United fruit had more land than any other company or individual in the country, and also had always refused to allow the organization of independent labor unions among its employees. From here we can see that the company was not trying to make friends or even try to help the people of the nation they were occupying and were making them successful.
Which is then where president Jacobo Arbenz comes into the picture. One of the main problems with Arbenz was that he was trying to make the company actually try to follow the laws and respect the people. Arbenz created an agrarian reform that took land from the company and gave it back to the poor farmers that needed it [12]. United Fruit was outraged by this reform. They immediately launched a propaganda campaign led by Edward Bernays to convince the United States government and its people that Arbenz was a communist dictator. Then president Eisenhower signed the document that allowed the CIA to be able to initiate the coup in the nation. Which then succeed and put US backed military dictator Carlos Castillo Armas into power.
The continued power of the United Fruit Company and the government that supported it led to the rise of many left-wing groups all over Guatemala. These groups began waging a war against the very state of Guatemala in what would become a civil war that would last from 1966 to 1996. More than 200,000 people were killed over the course of the 36-year-long civil war that began in 1960 and ended with peace accords in 1996. About 83 percent of those killed were Mayan, U.S. involvement in the country was also singled out by the commission as a key factor contributing to human rights violations, including training of officers in counterinsurgency techniques and assisting the national intelligence apparatus. One interesting aspect that we see from the United states during this time was actually its openly supportive attitude towards the several dictators that came to power in Guatemala. Which included General Efrain Rios Mont, just to highlight this support President Ronald Regan is quoted as saying President Ríos Montt is a man of great personal integrity and commitment. I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and to promote social justice. My administration will do all it can to support his progressive efforts. Rios Mont before his death in 2013 was accused of ordering the murder of 1,700 indigenous Mayan people all over Guatemala.
Although past dictators were not as harsh as Rios Montt, they all also ordered the deaths of hundreds of indigenous people. President Carlos Ana Osario had several military crackdowns and was even known for having death squads patrolling Guatemala looking for leftist groups all over the country, most of the members of the leftist groups were of indigenous origin. This all ended in 1996 when president Alvaro Arzu was finally able to negotiate peace talks with several leftist talks and bring an end to the civil war.
Although the civil war has come to an end we continue to see the reverberations of the civil war and power that was given to several corrupt institutions in Guatemala by the United States. An example of this can be seen with the level of inequality still present today all over Guatemala. As mentioned before the indigenous population was treated very negatively before and unfortunately this mistreatment still continues today.The predominantly rural indigenous areas of the country have the worst conditions of poverty, health, education, and land shortages. The indigenous population of Guatemala make up about 40% of the population but they are treated as second class citizens.Overall racism/xenophobia created in the country during the civil war of indigenous people continues the prolonged negligence of this group and support of what is considered the ladino group in Guatemala.21.8 percent of the indigenous population is affected by extreme poverty, compared to 7.4 per cent of the non-indigenous population.
Guatemala even down to today still feels the ramifications of its time as a Banana republic. There continues to be rampant violence and inequality all over the country. But one interesting development is that the united fruit company was succeeded by the Chiquita fruit company.
This is a CIMA Law Group blog entry. CIMA Law Group is located in Arizona and specializes in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Government Relations. If you live in Arizona and need legal assistance CIMA Law Group can help.
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