History 3072, History of Modern Latin America

Transporting Bananas

Early Images of Latin America

Banana or tropical agricultural products were one of the main symbols that leads to the heyday of Latin America’s export-oriented economy. It also represented the rising of neo-colonialism through the practice of using economics, globalization, cultural imperialism, and conditional aid to influence a country instead of direct military control or indirect political control.

Firstly, after the period of colonialism, the new governments of the Latin America region found it difficult to break the traditional export model of development which had been established under colonialism. For that reason, an export-oriented economy was a goal of the government. The export economy of tropical agricultural products in Latin America accounts for 14.2% of world exports, of which bananas account for a large proportion. Following the tendency, the United Fruit company became one of the largest corporations and landowners in Latin America. It is an American corporation that traded tropical fruit grown in Latin America and sold in the United States and Europe. The picture described the worker moving bananas out of the United Fruit Company banana groves in Limon (Costa Rica) – one of its main farms in Latin America. As we can see in the image, bananas were produced on a large scale, and the pulley system representing the application of machines in industrial production. United Fruit company was using the method of exchanging land for infrastructure or the railroad in specific. Besides Limón in Costa Rica, Guatemala was a real gold mine for the company like United Fruit. Under the Guatemalan dictator Jorge Ubico, the United Fruit Company gained control of 42% of Guatemala’s land and was exempted from paying taxes and import duties. At peak, United Fruit became a monopoly of the industry by selling ninety percent of banana in the United States.

Secondly, besides the contribution to the economy, the United Fruit multination company is also known for its influence on the internal politics of the “banana republic”. The corporation is described as “el pulpo” or octopus in Spanish because of the long reach of its tentacles all over central America. The Guatemala government gave the company the right to transport postal mail between Guatemala and the United States. Besides controlling land transportation, the United Fruit Company was also given control of the port in return for money and arms. Moreover, the company invested in the tropical radio and telegraph company then used it for propaganda their ideas. United Fruit Company was a typical example of neo-colonialism in the 20th century which using economics to influence a country instead of direct military control. Despite the destitute condition that people in colonized countries were suffering, we cannot deny the contribution of colonialism to the colonized economy. For example, between 1880 and 1910, the total length of the railroad in Brazil increased from 3.4 to 21.3 thousand kilometers or 12.7 to 31.1 thousand kilometers in Argentina. Furthermore, people in colonial countries benefited from cultivation and mining techniques taught by the colonist.

In conclusion, the image of the banana farm has a profound description of a society in the late 19th and beginning of the 20th century. It not only represents the economy that focused on export but also the rising of neo-colonialism.

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