Take action!

Given the history of fruit companies in Central America and the current problems with the ethics of banana companies, it is important that we, the consumers, take action against the injustices and support companies which treat their workers fairly and encourage fair trade. Thousands of workers are being exploited by the fruit companies and can not afford to support their families. We, the consumers, have the power to demand fair treatment of workers! The livelihood of thousands of families
We have the ability to vote with our dollars!

The first thing we can do is choose to boycott companies such as Del Monte, Chiquita, and Dole, who have been known to exploit their workers, bribe government officials, and murder union leaders. Financially supporting these companies encourages them to continue their practices and contributes to their malpractices in Central and South America.

Buy Caribbean or Fairtrade bananas with a Fairtrade sticker. These companies sell bananas at a price that covers real cost of production, including adequate pay for farmers. Additionally, they strive to reduce the use of pesticides which has led to the deaths of thousands of workers. The price of these bananas (which, admittedly, is higher than Chiquita or Dole’s prices) reflect the actual costs of production, and a premium is imposed on every box which funds projects aimed at improving social and environmental standards. The higher the demand for ethical products, the more companies will adopt ethical practices.
http://www.supportcaribbeanbananas.org.uk/

Another option is to buy fair-trade dry fruits from a company called Frutos de los Andes (Fruandes). They strive to improve the quality of life of their workers by paying them 20% more wages than average and providing them with educational opportunities. The growers, workers, processors, and exporters work together to form solidarity in agriculture and produce certified organic fruits.

http://www.fruandes.com/home.php?mid=2

We have the ability to make our voices heard by the Fruit Companies!
Many of the fruit companies’ workers are illiterate or oppressed by their employers and government, making it extremely difficult for them to demand better working conditions. As consumers, we have the ability to demand that the companies treat their workers fairly and create safe working environments. Write to Chiquita and Dole demanding that they stop using illegal pesticides, exploiting their workers, and killing union organizers

Sr Mario Mena, representative of Chiquita subsidiary COBIGUA
mmena@chiquita.com

Chiquita Brands International, Inc.
250 East Fifth Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202 USA
+513-784-8000

Dole Food Company
PO Box 5700
Thousand Oaks, CA 91359-5700,
800-356-3111

We have the ability to make our voices heard by government officials!
Governments should be restricting the ability of fruit companies to exploit their workers and kill union leaders, but impunity and injustices continue today. Write to ambassadors and government officials demanding that the assassins of union leaders of Guatemala are brought to justice and that they fight for workers’ rights.

Attorney General of Guatemala
Lic. Juan Luis Florido
Fiscal General de la República y Jefe del Ministerio Público
Email: fiscalgeneral@pm.lex.gob.gt

Embassy of Guatemala
130 Albert Street
Suite 1010
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G4

We have the ability to work for justice!
Become a volunteer or donate to these organizations, which attempt to encourage fair land distribution, protect workers, encourage union organization, and promote safe working conditions.

http://www.bananalink.org.uk/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/lang,en/
http://www.decentwork.org/
http://www.guatemalasolidarity.org.uk/
http://www.colsiba.org/

For more information on banana trades and fruit companies, check out these sites:

http://www.bananasthemovie.com/
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/971/33/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0JPz_6JbqI
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/books/review/Kurtz-Phelan-t.html?_r=1
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Transnational_corps/ChiquitaBanana.html

Los Pulpolitos

No one likes Mondays. Especially not when you are headed to an underpaid, potentially toxic, 12 hour work day where you patiently wait for your rights to be trampled on by corporate giants. Mondays are even less enticing when there are armed, masked men toting high caliber weapons waiting outside to brutally gun you down for trying to make you and your fellow workers lives even a sliver better. Unfortunately, on September 23, 2007, that became the fate of Marco Tulio Portelo Ramirez, a union organizer at Bandegua banana plantation in Guatemala, a subsidiary of Del Monte (Kern 2007). Only one example of how despite the dissolve of the United Fruit Company (UFCO) in 1970, there remains symmetrical repressive actions by the fruit companies that took over “El Pulpo’s” territory.

Ramirez belonged to the Banana Workers Union of Izabal (SITRABI), one of the longest-standing and most powerful union organizations in Guatemala (Kern 2007). Consequently, SITRABI poses largest threat to the multi-national corporations and is the most attacked. In 1999, Bandegua was also found to have let go 900 workers found to be associated with this union (Kern 2007). However, despite the risk involved with unions, workers are left with little choice. With the transition away from the monopolistic UFCO, Guatemalan banana plantation workers held high hopes that more competition would provide more incentive for companies to offer better wages and working conditions. However, labor conditions on these plantations remain very poor. Low, insufficient incomes, long work days and exposure to dangerous, often illegal chemicals are commonplace (Banana Companies 2009). Attempts to organize come under attack by banana companies, both independent and transnational. This may take the form of illegal firings, plantation closure, temporary contracts, civil law suits, trumped up criminal charges, and violence targeting union leaders. Ramirez was only one of four union workers assassinated in 2007, and charges were not pressed in any case (Kern 2007).

In Peter Chapmans book “Bananas!: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World,” he mentions the clear echoes of United Fruit today. His main target is Chiquita Brands International, a child of the UFCO that endured a marketing makeover by “the father of public relations” Edward Bernays who made it so the face of this multinational was an amiable cartoon character ‘Senorita Chiquita Banana’ (complete with a jingle, see attached video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDOI24RRAE). The marketing fluff was a steel shield from what the company was truly involved in. The corporation has since admitted to paying nearly $2 million to right-wing death squads in Colombia (Kurtz-Phelan 2008). For these “pulpolitos,” spawns of the original “El Pulpo” to keep their hands in all pots in Guatemala, they needed to create a situation where they are needed by the people by creating situations of fear and dissent. By threatening union workers, bribing the government, restricting development and creating civil tensions they keep control. Guatemala was the gem of the UFCO, and today it is exists as one of the most turbulent countries in the Western Hemisphere (Kurtz-Phelan 2008).

Although the monopoly that the UFCO possessed ‘no longer exists,’ a statistic that remains the same is that that large plantations still control 90% of the internationally traded bananas, however this time it is shared between five main companies (Banana Companies 2009). The two largest producers and marketers of bananas are both US controlled companies: Dole Food Co. (formerly Standard Fruit) and Chiquita Brands International (which transitioned form the United Fruit Company to United Brands following the suicide of United Fruits founder Minor Keith)(Shah 2009). Together, these companies control half of the international banana trade with Fresh Del Monte Produce, Exportadora Banaera Noboa, and Fyffes constituting the remainder (Banana Companies 2009). With the emergence of the civil society, human rights organizations and general transparency through increased access to information via the internet, there is more pressure for these companies to take responsibility for their actions. According to “Banana Link,” an organization campaigning for fair and sustainable banana trade, this has resulted in some companies taking a “more serious approach to ethical, social and environmental issues in recent years” (Banana Companies 2009). Reportedly Dole Fresh Fruit signed a deal with TransFair USA to import bananas under the fair-trade label making it the largest US importer of fair trade bananas (Knowes 2007).

Unfortunately, the production of large quantities of low-cost, unblemished bananas requires intensive chemical input and low cost labor. Low cost labor is associated with all of the aspects of the company’s negative reputation. Therefore, they did not want to be held accountable for everything that happened on these plantations. Due to this, a trend emerged where these companies began to give up direct ownership of plantations by creating contracts with well established producers in the countries where they operate (Banana Companies 2009). The main benefit to these agreements is simultaneously giving up direct responsibility for the social and environmental conditions on the plantations and allowing local producers to operate to their own standard.

The echoes of the United Fruit Company are drowned out by the shouts of the Guatemalan people. They want their land, they want their lives. The United Fruit Company morphed in to United Brands which rivaled Standard Fruit some 20 years ago. Today these companies still exist as Chiquita and Dole, and they still control half of the banana trade. Names and faces may have changed, however repression, corruption, and injustice are still in charge. As Senorita Chiquita Banana should sing, “Bananas have to ripen in a civil way.”

Sources

"Banana Companies." Banana Companies. 2009. Web. 02 Dec. 2009. .

Kern, Kimberly. "Guatemala: Banana Workers Union Leader Assasinated." Guatemala: Banana Workers Union Leader Assasinated. 24 Oct. 2007. Web. 02 Dec. 2009. .

Knowles, Mike. Dole Signs Deal to Import Fairtrade Fruit. Market Intelligence Ltd., 02 Oct. 2009. Web. 06 Dec. 2009. http://www.fruitnet.com/content.aspx?cid=4532

Kurtz-Phelan, Daniel. "Big Fruit." Big Fruit. 02 Mar. 2008. Web. 02 Dec. 2009. .

Rotten Fruit Dreams

Rotten Fruit Dreams

Jacobo never dreamt of becoming involved in politics, let alone be a political figure whose efforts echoed throughout the following generations as the man who tried to save Guatemala. Son to a Guatemalan woman and drug addicted Swiss immigrant who committed suicide when Jacobo was a young boy, his options were few (Bibliography: Jacobo Arbenz 2006). It was only natural that he joined the military and it is here he encountered the real Guatemala under the harsh dictatorship of Jorge Ubico, one of the most infamous dictators in Central America. However, it was upon meeting the love of his life Maria Cristina Vilinova that hurtled him down the path of political involvement (Bibliography: Jacobo Arbenz 2006). Despite her traditional family values and extreme wealth, Vilinova could not accept social inequalities and injustices she encountered in her native land of El Salvador (Bibliography: Jacobo Arbenz 2006). After becoming Mrs. Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, she enlightened him towards the economic and social failures in Guatemala. By the mid 1940’s, her ambitions and passion led Arbenz to join the fight for Guatemala.

Following the turmoil of an anti-Ubico movement, revolt against his successor Ponce, and an assassination thrown in the mix, Arbenz democratically took power on March 15, 1951 (Bibliography: Jacobo Arbenz 2006). Wanting to address inequalities in Guatemala, he began to push for reforms, all which attempted to counteract the non-governmental entity that had the true power in Guatemala, Minor Keith’s United Fruit Company (UFCO). The company was infamous for bribing government officials in exchange for getting out of a country what they needed at the least cost to themselves. This resulted in their involvement in worker exploitation, tax evasion, and creating monopolies over industry. The company was often referred to as “El Pulpo” (the octopus), who’s tentacles penetrated every aspect of the society in which they were present. The company operated as neo-imperialists and Arbenz was not going to tolerate it.

What the UFCO wanted from Guatemala was their banana industry. To gain control they monopolized transportation via the railroad, the major Caribbean ports at Puerto Barrios and the electricity companies to make it abundantly clear that they were needed in Guatemala. Arbenz began by lobbying for projects that would compete with these monopolies, including the construction of a highway, a locally controlled port and a national hydroelectric plant to provide cheaper energy for the Guatemalan people (Bibliography: Jacobo Arbenz 2006). Monopolies suppressed the quality of life in the country, creating a poorly functioning society which immensely benefitted the UFCO. Less competition and cohesion made an easily exploitable society where they would accept poor treatment and miniscule wages.

When necessary, the UFCO turned to violence to take control. Upon first entering Guatemala, they seized the lands of the people and instated “vagrancy laws” which required the newly ‘homeless population’ to work for the big plantations (Jorge Ubico 2009). Land distribution was the golden key to inequality in Guatemala. With a largely rural based indigenous population, taking away land was taking away a livelihood and impacting an entire culture. Therefore, the centerpiece of Arbenz’s government was land reforms as the current situation presented an obvious barrier to any national economic progression stating that “an agrarian reform which puts an end to the latifundios and the semi-feudal practices, giving land to thousands of peasants, raising their purchasing power and creating a great internal market favorable to the development of their domestic industry” (Bibliography: Jacobo Arbenz 2006).

The reform was approved in 1952, at which time the Arbenz government attempted to expropriate unused lands from the large plantations to be redistributed to landless peasants at a small rental fee. Initially these reforms were effective, giving 1.5 million acres to 100 000 families, and another 46 to groups of peasants who formed cooperatives (Bibliography: Jacobo Arbenz 2006). However, detecting these reforms as a potential threat to the UFCO there was a rapid backlash since the company had existed in Guatemala since the beginning when Minor Keith, a main founder of the company took control lands and built railways to take control over banana exports. The UFCO was used to compliance by the Guatemalan government; however what Arbenz was proposing was surely going to make the future of the company in the country questionable. At the time, UFCO owned 550 000 acres in Guatemala of which 85% was uncultivated, an obvious target for Arbenz’s purchasing rampage (Bibliography: Jacobo Arbenz 2006).

Indeed Arbenz did approach the company to purchase these lands. He did so at the rate that UFCO was claiming it was worth on tax forms, $2.99/ acre. However, the American government truly valued this land at $75/ acre which the Guatemalan government refused to pay (Bibliography: Jacobo Arbenz 2006). Seeing that Arbenz would be unwilling to make the same sort of concessions to the UFCO which allowed them to control the Banana trade in Guatemala, an anti-Arbenz campaign ensued. Samuel Zemurray, a dominant UFCO shareholder backed the campaign using Arbenz’s ties to the communist party as a means to show that Arbenz posed a communist threat in the Western Hemisphere (Bibliography: Jacobo Arbenz 2006). Under the Eisenhower administration, a CIA backed operation infiltrated the government, forcing Arbenz to resign. Using the sentiments of the Guatemalan elites and negative propaganda, the Guatemalan population was demoralized leaving Arbenz few options. In his resignation statement he reminded the people of the fruit company’s financial interests and their fear that the well being of Guatemala would hurt their enterprise (Bibliography: Jacobo Arbenz 2006).

UFCO knew exactly how to keep control of the country, and that is why it was one of the company’s most precious treasures. “Guatemala was chosen as the site for the company’s earliest development activities,” a former United Fruit executive once explained, “because at the time we entered Central America, Guatemala’s government was the region’s weakest, most corrupt and most pliable” (Kurtz-Phelan 2008). Minor Keith the “Uncrowned King of Central America,” created an empire, an empire that until its demise controlled as much as 90% of the market, bringing bananas to regions where they were unknown before (Biography: Minor Cooper Keith (1848-1929) 2006). It can be debated whether the company brought more bad than good to the country. Where on one hand it came with a plethora of jobs, infrastructure and opportunity for national economic progression; it also is accused of destroying a way of life and feeding off corruption and injustices in the country with countless human rights violations to supporting a coup that could have possibly saved Guatemala.

Sources

Biography: Jacobo Arbenz (1913-1971). United Fruit Historical Society, 2006. Web. 01 Dec. 2009. http://www.unitedfruit.org/arbenz.htm .

Biography: Minor Cooper Keith (1848-1929). United Fruit Historical Society, 2006. Web. 01 Dec. 2009. http://www.unitedfruit.org/keith.htm.

Jorge Ubico. In Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Web. 03 Dec. 2009 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/612337/Jorge-Ubico

Kurtz-Phelan, Daniel. "Big Fruit." Big Fruit. 02 Mar. 2008. Web. 02 Dec. 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/books/review/Kurtz-Phelan-t.html?_r=1.

This shit is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S

The fluorescent lights in Safeway’s produce department illuminate the colourful display of tropical fruits, making the Vancouver blizzard outside seem miles away. The pyramid of pineapples sits neatly next to the selection of artificially dew-covered mangoes, and coconuts rest under a fake palm tree, which is lit up with blinking Christmas lights. Bing Crosby’s “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” floats through the store as shoppers bustle around, their boots squeaking on the floor from the melted snow. The perfectly yellow bananas with the usual Chiquita stickers sit in bunches next to a blow-up snowman. With such a winter-like atmosphere, it is difficult to visualize the warm climate where these bananas came from. Where were they grown? Who picked them? What does the plantation look like? How can the fifty cents per pound possibly pay for the production and transportation costs?

Bananas have been a source of discord in developing countries for years. Workers are usually underpaid by large corporations such as Dole, Chiquita, and Del Monte, and exposure to toxic chemicals has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of workers. These corporations have oppressed (and murdered) members of labour unions, bribed government officials, and stolen land from locals. In order understand the fruit companies in Central America a bit better, we examined the history and current condition of banana workers and corporations in Guatemala, one of the original sites of the UFCO's operations. You can read more about it in our blog.

The true Chiquita Banana Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2E3qtHiDF4