Thread: History of United Fruit Company and what it did to Latin America & Caribbean.

Is it possible the United Fruit Company was colluding with the CIA to maximize profits in Cuba and Latin America??? Anybody up for a banana or pineapple???

United Fruit Company

The United Fruit Company was frequently denounced by leftist leaders and intellectuals, who accused it of bribing government officials in exchange for preferential treatment; and complained that it exploited its workers, contributed little by way of taxes to the countries in which it operated, and worked ruthlessly to consolidate monopolies. Latin American journalists sometimes referred to the company as el pulpo ("the octopus"), and leftist parties in Central and South American encouraged the Company's workers to strike.

The fact that the UFCO relied so heavily on manipulation of land use rights in order to maintain their market dominance had a number of long term consequences for the region. For the company to maintain its unequal land holdings it often required government concessions. And this in turn meant that the company had to be politically involved in the region even though it was an American company. UFCO had a mixed record on promoting the development of the nations in which it operated

Looks like the United Fruit Company had some close ties to the Director of the CIA.

The American United States Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was an avowed opponent of Communism whose law firm had represented United Fruit. His brother Allen Dulles was the director of the CIA. The brother of the Assistant Secretary of State for InterAmerican Affairs John Moors Cabot had once been president of United Fruit.

History of Cuba

Before the Cuban Revolution, Rockefeller’s United Fruit Company owned much of the land. Peasants starved in the off-season and lacked medical care and access to education. When the Cuban revolution came to power in 1959, Fidel Castro’s promise of land reform was quickly carried out. This made Cuba an enemy of the United States government, and the Cubans have never been forgiven since. Later a broader socialist revolution in the economy was carried out.

7 minute video of United Fruit using propaganda in Guatemala.
YouTube - Engineering of Consent: guatemala coup 1954

I'm not sure what you're fishing for here but the collusion between US govt and business interests in Latin America has a very long and well documented history.

There's a good reason why anti-americanism is alive and well south of our border and United Fruit is just one of the most obvious examples.