By the 1930s, the United Fruit Company had established itself throughout Central America and the Caribbean.1 The countries where United Fruit Company dominated economically and politically had become known as “The Banana Republics” – having been defined by their role in providing a single fruit to the US market. During the 1930s, however, the UFC faced several challenges that threatened its power and influence throughout the region and even in the “Banana Republics.”
The Great Depression
The Great Depression, which began in 1929, had serious implications for the financial stability of the United Fruit Company. The Depression reduced the demand for luxury goods such as bananas in the US and other consumer countries, which affected income of the UFC and thereby required the reduction of production of bananas in Central America and the Caribbean. In 1929, the United Fruit Company also faced both the death of its founder in June along with the crash of the stock market in October, sharply reducing the company’s capital assests.2 As a result of these two events, United Fruit reached an agreement with Samuel Zemurray to acquire his company, Cuyamel Fruit. After this agreement Zemurray emerged as the largest stockholder of the company. In January of 1933, Zemurray came out of retirement to become the managing director of the United Fruit Company. He would presided over the company until 1951. The company flourished under him, despite his lack of widespread popularity.
Costa Rican Instability
A 1934 strike in Costa Rica dramatically shifted the balance of authority between the government and the company. Beginning in the late 1920s, the Panama disease, a fungus that rapidly killed bananas and made the land they had grown on useless for continued, spread to Costa Rica.3 This outbreak forced the UFC to begin to shift production away from Costa Rica and towards the Pacific. This, along with growing tensions between the growing Afro-Caribbean population that had been brought to the country to work in the banana industry and other Costa Ricans, created significant instability at the dawn of the 1930s.4
In 1930, the contract between the United Fruit Company and the Costa Rican government was up for renewal.5 Throughout the 1920s, groups opposed to widespread corruption and the mistreatment of laborers by the United Fruit Company gained momentum in Costa Rica.6 However, the stock market crash of 1929 ended any leverage that Costa Rica had for the 1930 contract renegotiations. The UCF played such a large role in the Costa Rican economy by 1930 that the government had little choice but to accept their contract wishes.
The three major issues that dominated the renegotiation of the contract in 1930 were the extent of United Fruit operations on the Pacific coast, levels of taxation, and issues regarding the labor force.7 The inability of the Costa Rican government to implement labor protective measures into the contract only increased tensions between the United Fruit Company and the workers.8 The UFC consistently suppressed efforts of the labor force to unionize, and often used violence as a method to control their laborers.9 The UFC utilized Costa Rican troops to break strikes and to encourage laborers to submit to their authority. These actions infuriated certain members of the Costa Rican Congress who opposed the presence of the United Fruit Company in Costa Rica.
As a result an investigation was opened by the Costa Rican congress into the actions of the United Fruit Company, which found the UFC to be in violation of almost every clause of their contract. After the election of President Jimenez in 1932, negotiations began for a new contract. Racial tensions further increased as a result of certain stipulations of this new contract and as the United Fruit Company began to push further west.10 For example, one stipulation required that some banana production be transfered back into the hands of local growers -threatening to marginalize West Indian laborers.11 As negotiations continued into 1934 abuse and mistreatment of laborers proliferated, culminating in a massive strike organized by the Costa Rican communist party that began on August 9, 1934.12
The strike lasted for almost an entire month; it ended on August 28, 1934.13 Thousands of bananas and acres were destroyed in the process. On August 28, the Communist party reached an agreement with the Costa Rican government which mandated workers would be paid 15 cents an hour for “ordinary work” and be limited to an 8 hour day. The UFC said that they would not agree to such terms.
Finally, in December of 1934, contract negotiations were finally completed. 14 The United Fruit Company agreed to transfer much of their property in the Limon region to the Costa Rican government in exchange for more control over the western reaches of the country. This agreement had racial repercussion, as the majority of Costa Rica’s Afro-Caribbean population lived in the Limon region of the country.15 As Costa Rica regained authority and control in this region, they began to enact racist policies against this community in order to promote the growth of the “Hispanic,” or more white, populations. Beginning in 1935, all blacks were excluded from public parks and segregation of all places began to be enforced. The racism that was already present through the United Fruit Company’s policies and practices toward the labor force became further institutionalized by the Costa Rican government.
Works Cited
“Banana Strike Settled.” New York Times. 29 August 1934.
Colby, Jason M. “Reframing the Empire, 1929–1940.” In The Business of Empire Book, United Fruit, Race, and U.S. Expansion in Central America, Cornell University Press (2011).
Harpelle, Ronald N. “Racism and Nationalism in the Creation of Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast Banana Enclave.” The Americas 56, No. 3 (January 2000): 32-45.
Harpelle, Ronald N. “The Social and Political Integration of West Indians in Costa Rica: 1930-50.” Journal of Latin American Studies 25, No. 1 (February,1993): 103-120.
Sharman, Russell Leigh. “Red, White, and Black: Communist Literature and Black Migrant Labor in Costa Rica.” Afro-Hispanic Review 24, No. 2 (Fall 2005): 137-149.
Wiley, James. “The Empire Challenged, 1930–74.” In The Banana Book, Empires, Trade Wars, and Globalization, University of Nebraska Press, (2008).
1 James Wiley, “The Empire Challenged, 1930–74,” in The Banana Book, Empires, Trade Wars, and Globalization, University of Nebraska Press, (2008).
2Jason M. Colby, “Reframing the Empire, 1929–1940 ,” in The Business of Empire Book, United Fruit, Race, and U.S. Expansion in Central, Cornell University Press (2011).
3 Wiley, 37.
4 Ronald N. Harpelle, “The Social and Political Integration of West Indians in Costa Rica: 1930-50,” Journal of Latin American Studies 25, No. 1 (February,1993): 103-120.
5 Harpelle, 106.
6 Ronald N. Harpelle, “Racism and Nationalism in the Creation of Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast Banana Enclave,” The Americas 56, no. 3 (January 2000): 32-45.
7 Harpelle, 106.
8 Harpelle, 40.
9 Wiley, 42.
10 Colby, 187.
11 Harpelle, 40.
12 Russell Leigh Sharman, “Red, White, and Black: Communist Literature and Black Migrant Labor in Costa Rica,” Afro-Hispanic Review 24, No. 2 (Fall 2005): 137-149.
13 “Banana Strike Settled,” New York Times, 29 August 1934.
14 Colby, 191.
15 Harpelle, 48.
