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141-493: United Fruit had a deep and long-lasting effect on the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Critics often accused it of exploitative neocolonialism , and they described it as the archetypal example of the influence of a multinational corporation on the internal politics of the so-called banana republics. After a period of financial decline, United Fruit merged with Eli M. Black 's AMK in 1970 to become

282-504: A general store . Zemurray worked many odd jobs during his youth, being a carpenter's assistant, delivery boy, traveling merchant, and housecleaner. Eventually, he saved enough money to bring his siblings from Europe to the United States. Zemurray encountered bananas for the first time in Selma in 1893. At the time, bananas were considered a new and exotic delicacy in the United States, and

423-642: A hostile takeover . Zemurray moved the company's headquarters to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was based. United Fruit went on to prosper under Zemurray's management; Zemurray resigned as president of the company in 1951. In addition to many other labor actions, the company faced two major strikes of workers in South and Central America, in Colombia in 1928 and the Great Banana Strike of 1934 in Costa Rica. The latter

564-831: A "new version of colonialism". He later clarified that he did not refer to the Belt and Road Initiative or China with this. According to Mark Langan in 2017, China, Western actors, and other emerging powers pursue their own interests at the expense of African interests. Western actors depict China as a threat to Africa, while depicting European and American involvement in Africa as being virtuous. Russia currently occupies parts of neighboring states . These occupied territories are Transnistria (part of Moldova ); Abkhazia and South Ossetia (part of Georgia ); and five provinces of Ukraine , which it has illegally annexed. Russia has also established effective political domination over Belarus , through

705-473: A 1% increase in probability of being poor in 2011 since 1973 compared to the 0.73% lower probability on a UFCo location. A strike by United Fruit workers broke out on 12 November 1928 near Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. On December 6, Colombian Army troops allegedly under the command of General Cortés Vargas opened fire on a crowd of strikers in the central square of Ciénaga . Estimates of

846-506: A Russian state-funded private military company (PMC), has provided military support, security and protection for several autocratic regimes in Africa since 2017. In return, Russian and Wagner-linked companies have been given privileged access to those countries' natural resources, such as rights to gold and diamond mines, while the Russian military has been given access to strategic locations such as airbases and ports. This has been described as

987-429: A company's investment is largely self-contained for its employees and overseas investors and the benefits of the export earnings are not shared with the host country. One of the company's primary tactics for maintaining market dominance was to control the distribution of arable land. UFCO claimed that hurricanes, blight and other natural threats required them to hold extra land or reserve land. In practice, what this meant

1128-467: A dangerous specialisation in raw materials, inherent in which is the threat of hunger for all our peoples. We, the "underdeveloped", are also those with the single crop, the single product, the single market. A single product whose uncertain sale depends on a single market imposing and fixing conditions. That is the great formula for imperialist economic domination. Dependency theory is the theoretical description of economic neocolonialism. It proposes that

1269-460: A deal with a Massachusetts-based non-profit in 1999 that gave away rights to the domain name. Management of the domain name has since shifted to a Swedish organisation . The Niue government is currently fighting on two fronts to get back control on its domain name, including with the ICANN . Toke Talagi , the long-serving Premier of Niue who died in 2020, called it a form of neocolonialism. To ensure

1410-485: A failed attempt to nationalise the mining industry in the 1960s, it was reopened to foreign investment. There is an ongoing debate about whether certain actions by the United States should be considered neocolonialism. Nayna J. Jhaveri, writing in Antipode , views the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a form of "petroimperialism", believing that the U.S. was motivated to go to war to attain vital oil reserves, rather than to pursue

1551-499: A favorite retreat of Zemurray for the rest of his life. United Fruit suffered financially because of mismanagement and the Great Depression , so much so that its stock declined in value by 90% after it acquired Cuyamel. This encouraged Zemurray to return to the banana business by buying a controlling share of United Fruit and voting out the board of directors. Zemurray reorganized the company, decentralized decision-making and made

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1692-467: A former United States Navy vessel, where they began a war to install exiled Honduran former president Manuel Bonilla , who had been living in New Orleans. Gaining rebel soldiers from the local population, the coup was successful, and Bonilla was inaugurated on February 1, 1912. He then rewarded Zemurray with very favorable tax and land concessions for Cuyamel Fruit Company. In 1913, Zemurray bought back

1833-584: A hard life for a company "far away", and whose accompanying video depicted orange groves worked by peasants overseen by wealthy managers. The lyrics and scenery are generic, but United Fruit (or its successor Chiquita) was reputedly the target. US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell negotiated land giveaways to the United Fruit Company in Guatemala and Honduras. John Foster Dulles's brother, Allen Dulles , who

1974-991: A large collection of Mayan artifacts discovered in banana fields), the Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School, and to other philanthropic ventures, including the Zionist movement through his personal acquaintance, beginning in the 1920s, with Chaim Weizmann . Zemurray supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal policies, helping to draft the Agricultural Adjustment Administration industry codes, and contributed financially to left-wing causes, such as The Nation magazine. Zemurray and his company developed several innovations in banana farming, which contributed toward Cuyamel Fruit Company's increased efficiency over United Fruit. Zemurray married Sarah Weinberger in May 1908. Weinberger

2115-446: A major part in prolonged anti-government protests that resulted in over a hundred deaths. This was a source of popular resentment that contributed to the fall of then-President Marc Ravalomanana . The new president, Andry Rajoelina , cancelled the deal. Tanzania later announced that South Korea was in talks to develop 100,000 hectares for food production and processing for 700 to 800 billion won . Scheduled to be completed in 2010, it

2256-450: A memorial park to honor Samuel Jr. and his flight crew. The site is now part of the city's Zemurray Park. Once he had earned substantial amounts of money, Zemurray was actively philanthropic . In the United States, he gave thousands of dollars to Tulane University , Radcliffe College , The Nation magazine, and to clinics and hospitals in New Orleans. In Central America, he funded hospitals, roads, infrastructure, and schools, including

2397-490: A neo-colonial and neo-imperialist kind of state capture , whereby Russia gains sway over countries by helping to keep the ruling regime in power and making them reliant on its protection, while generating economic and political benefits for Russia, without benefitting the local population. Russia has also gained geopolitical influence in Africa through election interference and spreading pro-Russian propaganda and anti-Western disinformation . Russian PMCs have been active in

2538-535: A promising host export-driven economy. The Agrarian Law would grant international, multinational companies leniency in tax regulations along with other financial incentives. Acquiring the first railroad concession from liberal President Miguel R. Dávila in 1910, the Vaccaro brothers and Company helped set the foundation on which the banana republic would struggle to balance and regulate the relationships between American capitalism and Honduran politics. Samuel Zemurray ,

2679-562: A relationship of dependence, subservience, or financial obligation towards the neocolonialist nation. Coined by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in 1956, it was first used by Kwame Nkrumah in the context of African countries undergoing decolonisation in the 1960s. Neocolonialism is also discussed in the works of Western thinkers such as Sartre ( Colonialism and Neocolonialism , 1964) and Noam Chomsky ( The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism , 1979). When first proposed,

2820-575: A reliable, long-term supply of food, the South Korean government and powerful Korean multinationals bought farming rights to millions of hectares of agricultural land in under-developed countries. South Korea's RG Energy Resources Asset Management CEO Park Yong-soo stressed that "the nation does not produce a single drop of crude oil and other key industrial minerals. To power economic growth and support people's livelihoods, we cannot emphasise too much that securing natural resources in foreign countries

2961-460: A scheme for the solution of the participants' cash flow problems and was in the process of implementing it. The merger formed the United Fruit Company, based in Boston, with Preston as president and Keith as vice-president. Palmer became a permanent member of the executive committee and for long periods of time the director. From a business point of view, Bradley Palmer was United Fruit. Preston brought to

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3102-583: A significant role in large-scale unemployment and migration of people across the region. This violates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , which recognises the importance of fishing to local communities and insists that government fishing agreements with foreign companies should target only surplus stocks. Oxfam 's 2024 report "Inequality, Inc" concludes that multinational corporations located in

3243-616: A small-sized American banana entrepreneur, rose to be another contender looking to invest in the Honduran agricultural trade. In New Orleans , Zemurray found himself strategizing with the newly exiled General Manuel Bonilla (nationalist ex-president of Honduras 1903–1907, 1912–1913) and fomented a coup d'état against President Dávila. On Christmas Eve, December 1910, in clear opposition of the Dávila administration, Samuel Zemurray, U.S. General Lee Christmas , and Honduran General Manuel Bonilla boarded

3384-530: A substantial amount of U.S. capital to build a progressive infrastructure in Honduras. The granting of land ownership in exchange for the railroad concession started the first official competitive market for bananas and giving birth to the banana republic . Cuyamel Fruit Company and the Vaccaro Bros. and Co. would become known as being multinational enterprises. Bringing western modernization and industrialization to

3525-813: A type of foreign intervention in countries belonging to the Pan-Africanist movement, as well as the Asian–African Conference of Bandung (1955), which led to the Non-Aligned Movement (1961). Neocolonialism was formally defined by the All-African Peoples' Conference (AAPC) and published in the Resolution on Neo-colonialism . At both the Tunis conference (1960) and the Cairo conference (1961), AAPC described

3666-732: A unique opportunity in Iran's dominance in the Muslim world. Iran is able to use these African communities to circumvent economic sanctions and move arms, man power, and nuclear technology. Iran exerts its influence through humanitarian initiatives, such as those seen in Ghana. Through the building of hospitals, schools, and agricultural projects Iran uses "soft power" to assert its influence in Western Africa. The government of Niue has been trying to get back access to its domain name, .nu . The country signed

3807-781: A vision of " Iraq as a colony ". David Vine, author of Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Overseas Harm America and the World (2015), said the US had bases in 45 "less-than-democratic" countries and territories. He quotes political scientist Kent Calder : "The United States tends to support dictators [and other undemocratic regimes] in nations where it enjoys basing facilities". The People's Republic of China has built increasingly strong ties with some African, Asian, European and Latin American nations which has led to accusations of colonialism, As of August 2007, an estimated 750,000 Chinese nationals were working or living for extended periods in Africa. In

3948-545: Is a must for our future survival." The head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Jacques Diouf , stated that the rise in land deals could create a form of "neocolonialism", with poor states producing food for the rich at the expense of their own hungry people. In 2008, South Korean multinational Daewoo Logistics secured 1.3 million hectares of farmland in Madagascar to grow maize and crops for biofuels . Roughly half of

4089-751: Is a term used by the Russian government and Russian nationalists for territories and communities with a historical, cultural, or spiritual tie to Russia. The Kremlin meanwhile refers to the Russian diaspora and Russian-speakers in other countries as "Russian compatriots". In her book Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire (2016), Agnia Grigas highlights how ideas like the "Russian world" and "Russian compatriots" have become an "instrument of Russian neo-imperial aims". The Kremlin has sought influence over its "compatriots" by offering them Russian citizenship and passports ( passportization ), and in some cases eventually calling for their military protection. Grigas writes that

4230-411: Is an attempt to export the social conflicts of the capitalist countries. ... The result of neo-colonialism is that foreign capital is used for the exploitation rather than for the development of the less developed parts of the world. Investment, under neo-colonialism, increases, rather than decreases, the gap between the rich and the poor countries of the world. The struggle against neo-colonialism

4371-401: Is in revolt; military who have orders 'not to spare ammunition' have already killed and wounded about fifty strikers. Government now talks of general offensive against strikers as soon as all troopships now on the way arrive early next week. The dispatch from U.S. Bogotá Embassy to the U.S. Secretary of State, dated December 29, 1928, stated: I have the honor to report that the legal advisor of

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4512-461: Is not aimed at excluding the capital of the developed world from operating in less developed countries. It is also dubious in consideration of the name given being strongly related to the concept of colonialism itself. It is aimed at preventing the financial power of the developed countries being used in such a way as to impoverish the less developed. The essence of neo-colonialism is that the State which

4653-513: Is often followed by increases in unemployment, poverty and a decline in per-capita income. In the West African nations of Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Mauritania, fishing was historically central to the economy. Beginning in 1979, the European Union began negotiating contracts with governments for fishing off the coast of West Africa. Unsustainable commercial over-fishing by foreign fleets played

4794-807: Is subject to it is, in theory, independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty. In reality its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from outside. In 1961, regarding the economic mechanism of neocolonial control, in the speech Cuba: Historical Exception or Vanguard in the Anti-colonial Struggle? , Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara said: We, politely referred to as "underdeveloped", in truth, are colonial , semi-colonial or dependent countries. We are countries whose economies have been distorted by imperialism, which has abnormally developed those branches of industry or agriculture needed to complement its complex economy. "Underdevelopment", or distorted development, brings

4935-402: Is the control by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony) through indirect means. The term neocolonialism was first used after World War II to refer to the continuing dependence of former colonies on foreign countries, but its meaning soon broadened to apply, more generally, to places where the power of developed countries

5076-529: Is when researchers from wealthier countries go to a developing country , collect information, travel back to their country, analyze the data and samples, and publish the results with no or little involvement of local researchers. A 2003 study by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences found that 70% of articles in a random sample of publications about least-developed countries did not include a local research co-author. Frequently, during this kind of research,

5217-621: The Cuyamel Fruit Company and started using that name for the company. At this time, the company imported bananas from Central American farmers, but did not grow bananas of their own. In 1910, Zemurray bought 5,000 acres (20 km ) of land along the Cuyamel River in Honduras, near the town of Omoa . He then continued to borrow money and buy more lowland forest land in Honduras, well-suited for growing bananas. He developed this land by adding plantations, railroads, and bridges. The work

5358-574: The Global North are "perpetuating a colonial style 'extractivist' model" across the Global South as the economies of the latter "are locked into exporting primary commodities, from copper to coffee" to these multinationals. American economist Jeffrey Sachs recommended that the entire African debt (c. US$ 200 billion) be dismissed, and recommended that African nations not repay either the World Bank or

5499-457: The Great Depression in 1929. As part of the deal with United Fruit, Zemurray agreed to retire from the banana business entirely, to make sure he would not start a new fruit company and continue to compete with United Fruit. During this two year period, Zemurray remodeled his ornate Beaux Arts mansion in New Orleans at 2 Audubon Place. He also acquired in 1928 Houltonwood , a 25,000-acre plantation located near Hammond, Louisiana , which became

5640-587: The Hornet to a Honduran straw buyer on the island to avoid falling foul of the Neutrality Act . After successfully attacking the port of Trujillo, the Hornet unexpectedly encountered the U.S. gunboat Tacoma and was towed back to New Orleans. The nascent revolution continued apace, Zemurray's media contacts having spread the word in advance. President Dávila was forced to step down, with Francisco Bertrand becoming interim president until General Bonilla handily won

5781-497: The International Monetary Fund (IMF): The time has come to end this charade. The debts are unaffordable. If they won't cancel the debts, I would suggest obstruction; you do it, yourselves. Africa should say: "Thank you very much, but we need this money to meet the needs of children who are dying, right now, so, we will put the debt-servicing payments into urgent social investment in health, education, drinking water,

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5922-601: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission exposed a scheme by United Brands (dubbed Bananagate ) to bribe Honduran President Oswaldo López Arellano with $ 1.25 million, plus the promise of another $ 1.25 million upon the reduction of certain export taxes. Trading in United Brands stock was halted, and López was ousted in a military coup. After Black's suicide, Cincinnati -based American Financial Group , one of billionaire Carl Lindner, Jr. 's companies, bought into United Brands. In August 1984, Lindner took control of

6063-558: The Union State . Historian Timothy Snyder defines Russia's war against Ukraine as "a colonial war, in the sense that Russia meant to conquer, dominate, displace and exploit" the country and its people. Russia has been accused of colonialism in Crimea , which it annexed in 2014, by enforced Russification , passportization , and by settling Russian citizens on the peninsula and forcing out Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars . The Wagner Group ,

6204-648: The United Brands Company . In 1984, Carl Lindner, Jr. transformed United Brands into the present-day Chiquita Brands International . In 1871, U.S. railroad entrepreneur Henry Meiggs signed a contract with the government of Costa Rica to build a railroad connecting the capital city of San José to the port of Limón in the Caribbean . Meiggs was assisted in the project by his young nephew, Minor C. Keith , who took over Meiggs's business concerns in Costa Rica after his death in 1877. Keith began experimenting with

6345-596: The United Brands Company . United Fruit had far less cash than Black had counted on, and Black's mismanagement led to United Brands becoming crippled with debt. The company's losses were exacerbated by Hurricane Fifi in 1974, which destroyed many banana plantations in Honduras . On February 3, 1975, Black committed suicide by jumping out a window from the 44th floor of the Pan Am Building in New York City. Later that year,

6486-552: The banana trade. He founded the Cuyamel Fruit Company and later became president of the United Fruit Company , the world's most influential fruit company at the time. Both companies played highly controversial roles in the history of several Latin American countries and had a significant influence on their economic and political development. Zemurray's birth name was Schmuel Zmurri ( Yiddish : שמואל זמורי , Russian : Шмуэль Давидович Змура , Shmuel Davidovich Zmura ). He

6627-470: The wealth gap as well as the collusion between the profiting Honduran government officials and the U.S. fruit companies (United Fruit Co., Standard Fruit Co., Cuyamel Fruit Co.) versus the Honduran working and poor classes. Due to the exclusivity of the land concessions and lack of official ownership documentation, Honduran producers and experienced laborers were left with two options to regain these lands— dominio util or dominio pleno. Dominio util —meaning

6768-541: The 1910's and 1920's, Zemurray continuously conflicted with United Fruit. Their competition over land in Central America included pranks, sabotage, legal challenges, and approached outright violence. In 1928, a Cuyamel Fruit boat was discovered with a cache of weapons aboard. In 1929, the United States Department of State facilitated discussions between Zemurray and United Fruit to merge their companies and end

6909-434: The 1930s the company owned 3.5 million acres (14,000 km) of land in Central America and the Caribbean and was the single largest land owner in Guatemala. Such holdings gave it great power over the governments of small countries. That was one of the factors that led to the coining of the phrase " banana republic ". In 1933, concerned that the company was mismanaged and that its market value had plunged, Zemurray staged

7050-702: The 1930s – was Secretary of State under Eisenhower; his brother Allen, who did legal work for the company and sat on its board of directors, was head of the CIA under Eisenhower; Henry Cabot Lodge , who was America's ambassador to the UN, was a large owner of United Fruit stock; Ed Whitman, the United Fruit PR man, was married to Ann Whitman, Dwight Eisenhower's personal secretary. You could not see these connections until you could – and then you could not stop seeing them. The United Fruit Company (UFCO) owned huge tracts of land in

7191-922: The 1980s and 90s, China continued to purchase natural resources— petroleum and minerals—from Africa to fuel the Chinese economy and to finance international business enterprises. In 2006, trade had increased to $ 50 billion expanding to $ 500 billion by 2016. In Africa, China has loaned $ 95.5 billion to various countries between 2000 and 2015, the majority being spent on power generation and infrastructure. Cases in which this has ended with China acquiring foreign land have led to accusations of " debt-trap diplomacy ". Other analysts say that China's activities "are goodwill for later investment opportunities or an effort to stockpile international support for contentious political issues". In 2018, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad cancelled two China-funded projects. He also talked about fears of Malaysia becoming "indebted" and of

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7332-565: The Caribbean coast of Colombia . In 1899, Keith lost $ 1.5 million when Hoadley and Co., a New York City broker, went bankrupt. He then traveled to Boston, Massachusetts, to participate in the merger of his banana trading company, Tropical Trading and Transport Company , with the rival Boston Fruit Company. Boston Fruit had been established by Lorenzo Dow Baker , a sailor who, in 1870, had bought his first bananas in Jamaica, and by Andrew W. Preston . Preston's lawyer, Bradley Palmer , had devised

7473-464: The Caribbean lowlands. It also dominated regional transportation networks through its International Railways of Central America and its Great White Fleet of steamships. In addition, UFCO branched out in 1913 by creating the Tropical Radio and Telegraph Company. UFCO's policies of acquiring tax breaks and other benefits from host governments led to it building enclave economies in the regions, in which

7614-593: The Central African Republic , Sudan , Libya , Mali , Burkina Faso , Niger and Mozambique , among other countries. They have been accused of human rights abuses and killing civilians. In 2024, the Wagner Group in Africa was merged into a new 'Africa Corps' under the direct control of Russia's Ministry of Defense. Analysts for the Russian government have privately acknowledged the neo-colonial nature of Russia's policy towards Africa. The " Russian world "

7755-468: The Company built extensive railroads and ports, provided employment and transportation, and created numerous schools for the people who lived and worked on Company land. On the other hand, it allowed vast tracts of land under its ownership to remain uncultivated and, in Guatemala and elsewhere, it discouraged the government from building highways, which would have lessened the profitable transportation monopoly of

7896-510: The Congo ), Idriss Déby ( Chad ), and Hamani Diori ( Niger ). Belgium's approach to Belgian Congo has been characterized as a quintessential example of neocolonialism, as the Belgians embraced rapid decolonization of the Congo with the expectation that the newly independent state would become dependent on Belgium. This dependence would allow the Belgians to exert control over Congo, even though Congo

8037-680: The Cuban Tricontinental Conference (Organisation of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America) recognised and supported the validity of revolutionary anti-colonialism as a means for colonised peoples of the Third World to achieve self-determination, a policy which angered the U.S. and France. Moreover, Chairman Barka headed the Commission on Neocolonialism, which dealt with

8178-509: The Guatemala operation. Company holdings in Cuba , which included sugar mills in the Oriente region of the island, were expropriated by the 1959 revolutionary government led by Fidel Castro . By April 1960 Castro was accusing the company of aiding Cuban exiles and supporters of former leader Fulgencio Batista in initiating a seaborne invasion of Cuba directed from the United States. Castro warned

8319-548: The Honduran declaration of independence in 1838 from the Central American Federation, Honduras was in a state of economic and political strife due to constant conflict with neighboring countries for territorial expansion and control. Liberal President Marco Aurelio Soto (1876–1883) saw instating the Agrarian Law of 1877 as a way to make Honduras more appealing to international companies looking to invest capital into

8460-451: The Honduran government or in some cases it was permitted by U.S. companies, such as United Fruit Co., to create long-term contracts with independent producers on devastatingly diseased infested districts. Even once granted land concessions, many were so severely contaminated with either the Panaman, moko, or sigatoka, that it would have to reduce the acreage used and the amount produced or changed

8601-510: The Kremlin uses the existence of these "compatriots" to "gain influence over and challenge the sovereignty of foreign states and at times even take over territories". The Iranian government has been called an example of neocolonialism. The motivation for Iran is not economic, but religious. After its establishment in 1979, Iran sought to export Shia Islam globally and position itself as a force in world political structures. Africa's Muslims present

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8742-530: The November 1911 Honduran presidential elections. In 1912, General Bonilla quickly granted the second railroad concession to the newly incorporated Cuyamel Fruit Company owned by Zemurray. The period of some of these exclusive railroad land concessions was up to 99 years. The first railroad concession leased the national railroad of Honduras to the Vaccaro Bros. and Co. (once Standard Fruit Company and currently Dole Food Company ). Zemurray granted his concession to

8883-471: The President of Ghana exposes the workings of International monopoly capitalism in Africa. For him Neo-colonialism, insidious and complex, is even more dangerous than the old colonialism and shows how meaningless political freedom can be without economic independence. Nkrumah theoretically developed and extended to the post–World War II 20th century the socio-economic and political arguments presented by Lenin in

9024-459: The Spanish Main – via Boston and New Orleans written and illustrated by Henry R. Blaney. The travel book featured landscapes and portraits of the inhabitants pertaining to the regions where the United Fruit Company possessed land. It also described the voyage of the United Fruit Company's steamer, and Blaney's descriptions and encounters of his travels. In 1901, the government of Guatemala hired

9165-565: The Tela Railroad Company—another division within his own company. Cuyamel Fruit Company's concession would also be awarded to the Tela Railroad Company. United Fruit Company (currently Chiquita Brands International ) would partner with President Bonilla in the exchange of access and control of Honduran natural resources plus tax and financial incentives. In return, President Bonilla would receive cooperation, protection and

9306-527: The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (see Operation PBSuccess ). The directors of United Fruit Company (UFCO) had lobbied to convince the Truman and Eisenhower administrations that Colonel Árbenz intended to align Guatemala with the Eastern Bloc . Besides the disputed issue of Árbenz's allegiance to communism, UFCO was being threatened by the Árbenz government's agrarian reform legislation and new Labor Code. UFCO

9447-779: The U.S. government's official rationale for the Iraq War . Noam Chomsky has been a prominent critic of " American imperialism "; he believes that the basic principle of the foreign policy of the United States is the establishment of "open societies" that are economically and politically controlled by the United States and where U.S.-based businesses can prosper. He argues that the U.S. seeks to suppress any movements within these countries that are not compliant with U.S. interests and to ensure that U.S.-friendly governments are placed in power. He believes that official accounts of U.S. operations abroad have consistently whitewashed U.S. actions in order to present them as having benevolent motives in spreading democracy. Examples he regularly cites are

9588-402: The U.S. that "Cuba is not another Guatemala" in one of many combative diplomatic exchanges before the U.S. organized the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. In the 20th century, many parts of Latin America were not positively operated and invested in compared to the region of Costa Rica. The United Fruit Company, according to researchers, made positive impacts in the region that continued past

9729-462: The UFCo. According to Yale Insights, the impact of the infrastructure still persists today in astonishing numbers. In 1973, households living within the boundaries of UFCo were 26% less likely to be poor compared to outside households. A most recent research statistic in 2011, states that only 63% of the poverty gap had closed by 2011. The impact of the UFCo investment in capital among families had statistically paid off as outside work options had around

9870-411: The United Fruit Company here in Bogotá stated yesterday that the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military authorities during the recent disturbance reached between five and six hundred; while the number of soldiers killed was one. The dispatch from the U.S. embassy to the U.S. Secretary of State, dated January 16, 1929, stated: I have the honor to report that the Bogotá representative of

10011-422: The United Fruit Company to manage the country's postal service, and in 1913 the United Fruit Company created the Tropical Radio and Telegraph Company . By 1930, it had absorbed more than 20 rival firms, acquiring a capital of $ 215 million and becoming the largest employer in Central America. In 1930, Sam Zemurray (nicknamed "Sam the Banana Man") sold his Cuyamel Fruit Company to United Fruit and retired from

10152-517: The United Fruit Company told me yesterday that the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military exceeded one thousand. The Banana massacre is said to be one of the main events that preceded the Bogotazo , the subsequent era of violence known as La Violencia , and the guerrillas who developed in the bipartisan National Front period, creating the ongoing armed conflict in Colombia . Following

10293-612: The actions of the French Community of independent states, organised by France, as neocolonial. The politician Jacques Foccart , the principal adviser for African matters to French presidents Charles de Gaulle (1958–1969) and Georges Pompidou (1969–1974), was the principal proponent of Françafrique . The works of Verschave and Beti reported a forty-year, post-independence relationship with France's former colonial peoples, which featured colonial garrisons in situ and monopolies by French multinational corporations , usually for

10434-663: The actions of the United States in Vietnam, the Philippines, Latin America, and the Middle East. Chalmers Johnson argued in 2004 that America's version of the colony is the military base. Johnson wrote numerous books, including three examinations of the consequences of what he called the " American Empire ". Chip Pitts argued similarly in 2006 that enduring United States bases in Iraq suggested

10575-479: The author himself grew up in close proximity to the incident. The climax of García Márquez 's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude is based on the events in Ciénaga. General Cortés Vargas issued the order to shoot, arguing later that he had done so because of information that US boats were poised to land troops on Colombian coasts to defend American personnel and the interests of the United Fruit Company. Vargas issued

10716-567: The banana and the effects of these practices created noticeable environmental degradation when it was a thriving company. Infrastructure built by the company was constructed by clearing out forests, filling in low, swampy areas, and installing sewage, drainage, and water systems. Ecosystems that existed on these lands were destroyed, devastating biodiversity. With a loss in biodiversity, other natural processes within nature necessary for plant and animal survival are shut down. Techniques used for farming were at fault for loss of biodiversity and harm to

10857-508: The banana import business in the United States, then their main source of income. The company catapulted into financial success. Bradley Palmer overnight became a much-sought-after expert in business law, as well as a wealthy man. He later became a consultant to presidents and an adviser to Congress. In 1900, the United Fruit Company produced The Golden Caribbean: A Winter Visit to the Republics of Colombia, Costa Rica, Spanish Honduras, Belize and

10998-514: The bankruptcy and ceasing of production in 1984. Since 1880 with the first initial U.S investment in 4% of the country's territory, the UFCO grew in Costa Rica to develop around 7% of their labor force. With a growing labor force and plantations expanding, camps for farmers and families emerged. With the emergence of the workforce came the construction of commissaries, schools, electric plants, sewage systems, hospitals, and recreation facilities all funded by

11139-426: The bass population greatly impacted the native fish population, and continued to grow. The 55-gallon drums imported by the UFCO has led this American export to grow and become genetically superior in the warmer and longer growing seasons. Although UFCO sometimes promoted the development of the nations where it operated, its long-term effects on their economy and infrastructure were often devastating. In Central America,

11280-417: The careers of local scientists. This form of "colonial" science has reverberations of 19th century scientific practices of treating non-Western participants as "others" in order to advance colonialism —and critics call for the end of these extractivist practices in order to decolonize knowledge . The representative example of European neocolonialism is Françafrique , the "French Africa" constituted by

11421-667: The company and renamed it Chiquita Brands International. The headquarters was moved to Cincinnati in 1985. By 2019, the company's main offices left the United States and relocated to Switzerland. Throughout most of its history, United Fruit's main competitor was the Standard Fruit Company , now the Dole Food Company . The United Fruit Company is reported to have been involved in bribing government officials in exchange for preferential treatment and working to consolidate monopolies. Latin American journalists sometimes referred to

11562-717: The company as el pulpo ("the octopus"), and leftist parties in Latin America encouraged the company's workers to strike. Criticism of the United Fruit Company became a staple of the discourse of the communist parties in several Latin American countries, where its activities were often interpreted as illustrating Vladimir Lenin 's theory of capitalist imperialism . Major far-left writers in Latin America, such as Carlos Luis Fallas of Costa Rica, Ramón Amaya Amador of Honduras, Miguel Ángel Asturias and Augusto Monterroso of Guatemala, Gabriel García Márquez of Colombia, Carmen Lyra of Costa Rica, and Pablo Neruda of Chile, denounced

11703-406: The company had to be politically involved in the region even though it was an American company. In fact, the heavy-handed involvement of the company in often-corrupt governments created the term " banana republic ", which represents a servile dictatorship. The term "Banana Republic" was coined by American writer O. Henry . The United Fruit Company's entire process of creating a plantation to farming

11844-444: The company in their literature: The Fruit Company, Inc. reserved for itself the most succulent piece, the central coast of my own land, the delicate waist of America. It rechristened its territories 'Banana Republics', and over the sleeping dead, over the restless heroes who brought about the greatness, the liberty, and the flags, it established the comic opera: it abolished free will, gave out imperial crowns, encouraged envy, attracted

11985-535: The company profitable once more. After the sale of Cuyamel, United Fruit's business declined because of the impact of the Great Depression. In Zemurray's view, the company could be managed better to handle the economic downturn. Though he sent a letter and attended a board meeting, United Fruit's management was not interested in his ideas. Zemurray then visited individual United Fruit shareholders and collected their proxies , which would enable him to gain control of

12126-419: The company sold off the last of its Guatemalan holdings after over a decade of decline. Even as the Árbenz government was being overthrown, in 1954 a general strike against the company organized by workers in Honduras rapidly paralyzed that country, and, due to the United States' concern about the events in Guatemala, was settled more favorably for the workers in order for the United States to gain leverage for

12267-507: The company. He then attended a United Fruit board meeting, in which he produced the proxies, dramatically saying, "You've been fucking up this business long enough. I'm going to straighten it out." Now as president of United Fruit Company, Zemurray succeeded in improving business. He considered his hands-on approach of visiting banana plantations to be the key to his success. He gained a detailed understanding of operations, resulting in mass terminations of weak employees, improved efficiency in

12408-461: The concept of neocolonialism was originally developed within a Marxist theoretical framework and is generally employed by the political left , the term "neocolonialism" is found in other theoretical frameworks. Sam Zemurray Samuel Zemurray (born Schmuel Zmurri ; January 18, 1877 – November 30, 1961), nicknamed " Sam the Banana Man ", was an American businessman who made his fortune in

12549-467: The conflict, which was endangering American interests abroad. A deal was completed in 1929, in which Zemurray sold Cuyamel to United Fruit for $ 31.5 million in stock, making him one of the richest people in the United States. Though Zemurray had prided himself on independence, he sold his company because of increasing pressure from the Department of State and because of the financial insecurity brought on by

12690-407: The continued close relationships between France and its former African colonies. In 1955, the initial usage of the term "French Africa", by President Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Ivory Coast , denoted positive social, cultural and economic Franco–African relations. It was later applied by neocolonialism critics to describe an imbalanced international relation. Neocolonialism was used to describe

12831-518: The control of AIDS, and other needs". Wallerstein, and separately Frank, claim that the modern conservation movement , as practiced by international organisations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature , inadvertently developed a neocolonial relationship with underdeveloped nations. Neo-colonial research or neo-colonial science , frequently described as helicopter research, parachute science or research, parasitic research, or safari study,

12972-420: The country's arable land, as well as rainforests were to be converted into palm and corn monocultures , producing food for export from a country where a third of the population and 50 percent of children under five are malnourished , using South African workers instead of locals. Local residents were not consulted or informed, despite being dependent on the land for food and income. The controversial deal played

13113-456: The crop being produced. Additionally, accusations were reported of the Tela Railroad Company placing intense requirements, demanding exclusivity in distribution, and unjustly denying crops produced by small-scale farmers because they were deemed "inadequate". Compromise was attempted between small-scale fruit producers and the multinationals enterprises but were never reached and resulted in local resistance. Neocolonialism Neocolonialism

13254-442: The deal more favorable to him. Knox made no concessions for Zemurray, and told him not to meddle in Honduran affairs. In spite of this instruction, Zemurray devised a plan to overthrow Honduran president Miguel Dávila in order to prevent the deal. He recruited mercenary Lee Christmas , who in turn recruited a force of about 100 other mercenaries in New Orleans, including famed Jewish soldier Sam Dreben . They sailed to Honduras in

13395-527: The decolonised countries. Cuba, the Warsaw Pact bloc , Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser (1956–1970) et al. accused the U.S. of sponsoring anti-democratic governments whose regimes did not represent the interests of their people and of overthrowing elected governments (African, Asian, Latin American) that did not support U.S. geopolitical interests. In the 1960s, under the leadership of Chairman Mehdi Ben Barka ,

13536-449: The democratically elected government of Guatemala and installed a pro-business military dictatorship. In 1967, it acquired the A&;W Restaurants . Corporate raider Eli M. Black bought 733,000 shares of United Fruit in 1968, becoming the company's largest shareholder. In June 1970, Black merged United Fruit with his own public company, AMK (owner of meat packer John Morrell ), to create

13677-405: The dictatorship of flies ... flies sticky with submissive blood and marmalade, drunken flies that buzz over the tombs of the people, circus flies, wise flies expert at tyranny. The business practices of United Fruit were also frequently criticized by journalists, politicians, and artists in the United States. Little Steven released a song in 1987 called "Bitter Fruit", with lyrics that referred to

13818-547: The exploitation of mineral resources. It was argued that the African leaders with close ties to France—especially during the Soviet–American Cold War (1945–1992)—acted more as agents of French business and geopolitical interests than as the national leaders of sovereign states. Cited examples are Omar Bongo ( Gabon ), Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Ivory Coast), Gnassingbé Eyadéma ( Togo ), Denis Sassou-Nguesso ( Republic of

13959-668: The first provincial government to benefit from a new central government fund to develop farmland overseas, receiving a loan of $ 1.9 million. The project was expected to produce 10,000 tonnes of feed in the first year. South Korean multinationals and provincial governments purchased land in Sulawesi , Indonesia , Cambodia and Bulgan , Mongolia . The national South Korean government announced its intention to invest 30 billion won in land in Paraguay and Uruguay . As of 2009 discussions with Laos , Myanmar and Senegal were underway. Although

14100-470: The fruit business. By then, the company held a major role in the national economies of several countries and eventually became a symbol of the exploitative export economy. This led to serious labor disputes by the Costa Rican peasants, involving more than 30 separate unions and 100,000 workers, in the 1934 Great Banana Strike , one of the most significant actions of the era by trade unions in Costa Rica . By

14241-502: The global economic system comprises wealthy countries at the centre, and poor countries at the periphery. Economic neocolonialism extracts the human and natural resources of a poor country to flow to the economies of the wealthy countries. It claims that the poverty of the peripheral countries is the result of how they are integrated in the global economic system. Dependency theory derives from the Marxist analysis of economic inequalities within

14382-582: The global economic system. Proponents of dependency theory, such as Venezuelan historian Federico Brito Figueroa , who investigated the socioeconomic bases of neocolonial dependency, influenced the thinking of the former President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez . During the mid-to-late 20th century, in the course of the ideological conflict between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., each country and its satellite states accused each other of practising neocolonialism in their imperial and hegemonic pursuits. The struggle included proxy wars , fought by client states in

14523-472: The industry was growing quickly. Zemurray went to the port of Mobile, Alabama , in 1895 to enter the banana trade. Because bananas ripen quickly, the banana trade relied on the ability to quickly bring the produce to market. In Mobile, Zemurray specialized in buying cheap bananas in danger of being overripe and quickly transporting and selling them in the surrounding region by rail . Starting with only $ 150, he had saved $ 100,000 by age 21. His success earned him

14664-484: The land as well. To create farmland, the United Fruit Company would either clear forests (as mentioned) or would drain marshlands to reduce avian habitats and to create "good" soil for banana plant growth. The most common practice in farming was called the "shifting plantation agriculture" . This is done by using produced soil fertility and hydrological resources in the most intense manner, then relocating when yields fell, and pathogens followed banana plants. In addition to

14805-409: The land was intended to be developed for the greater good of the public with a possibility of being the granted "full private ownership" versus dominio pleno was the immediate granting of full private ownership with the right to sell . Based on the 1898 Honduran agrarian law, without being sanctioned the right their communal lands, Honduran villages and towns could only regain these lands if granted by

14946-409: The local colleagues might be used to provide logistics support as fixers but are not engaged for their expertise or given credit for their participation in the research . Scientific publications resulting from parachute science frequently only contribute to the career of the scientists from rich countries, thus limiting the development of local science capacity (such as funded research centers ) and

15087-506: The loss of biodiversity, many new species were introduced into the environment including the largemouth bass. Largemouth Bass, a popular fish in the United States has made it all over the globe through exports. Lake Yojoa in Honduras was home to many largemouth bass not native to the region. Stemming from a United Fruit Company social club event, a group of North American employees wanting to indulge in their love for fishing, introduced 1,800 largemouth bass from Florida. From 1954-55 to about 1970,

15228-409: The most severe violence was directed at workers on the plantations of the United Fruit Company. Despite UFCO's government connections and conflicts of interest, the overthrow of Árbenz failed to benefit the company. Its stock market value declined along with its profit margin. The Eisenhower administration proceeded with antitrust action against the company, which forced it to divest in 1958. In 1972,

15369-603: The neocolonialism was applied to European countries' continued economic and cultural relationships with their former colonies, those African countries that had been liberated in the aftermath of Second World War . At the 1962 National Union of Popular Forces conference, Mehdi Ben Barka , the Moroccan political organizer and later chair of the Tricontinental Conference 1966 , used the term al-isti'mar al-jadid ( Arabic : الاستعمار الجديد "the new colonialism") to describe

15510-455: The new laws. In 1952, the government of Guatemala began expropriating unused United Fruit Company land to landless peasants. The company responded by intensively lobbying the U.S. government to intervene and mounting a misinformation campaign to portray the Guatemalan government as communist . In 1954, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency armed, funded, and trained a military force that deposed

15651-453: The nickname "Sam the Banana Man". In 1903, Zemurray signed a contract with United Fruit , the dominant company in the banana trade. Along with his partner, Ashbell Hubbard, the newly-formed Hubbard-Zemurray Company would buy and distribute United Fruit's ripest bananas. United Fruit itself bought a portion of Hubbard-Zemurray. In 1905, Zemurray moved to New Orleans and the company acquired Thatcher Brothers Steamship Company. They also acquired

15792-568: The number of casualties vary from 47 to 3,000. The military justified this action stating that the strike was subversive, and its organizers were Communist revolutionaries. Congressman Jorge Eliécer Gaitán claimed that the army had acted under instructions from the United Fruit Company. The ensuing scandal contributed to President Miguel Abadía Méndez 's Conservative Party being voted out of office in 1930, putting an end to 44 years of Conservative rule in Colombia. The first novel of Álvaro Cepeda Samudio , La Casa Grande , focuses on this event, and

15933-687: The order so the United States would not invade Colombia. The telegram from Bogotá Embassy to the U.S. Secretary of State, dated December 5, 1928, stated: I have been following Santa Marta fruit strike through United Fruit Company representative here; also through Minister of Foreign Affairs who on Saturday told me government would send additional troops and would arrest all strike leaders and transport them to prison at Cartagena ; that government would give adequate protection to American interests involved. The telegram from Bogotá Embassy to Secretary of State, date December 7, 1928, stated: Situation outside Santa Marta City unquestionably very serious: outside zone

16074-490: The other hand, through providing 'assistance' accompanied by promises of achieving prosperity, though its bases are in fact outside the African continent." Kwame Nkrumah , president of Ghana from 1960 to 1966, is credited with coining the term, which appeared in the 1963 preamble of the Organisation of African Unity Charter, and was the title of his 1965 book, Neo-Colonialism, The Last Stage of Imperialism . In his book

16215-559: The pamphlet Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917). The pamphlet frames 19th-century imperialism as the logical extension of geopolitical power, to meet the financial investment needs of the political economy of capitalism . In Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism , Kwame Nkrumah wrote: In place of colonialism, as the main instrument of imperialism, we have today neo-colonialism ... [which] like colonialism,

16356-459: The partnership his plantations in the West Indies , a fleet of steamships, and his market in the U.S. Northeast. Keith brought his plantations and railroads in Central America and his market in the U.S. South and Southeast. At its founding, United Fruit was capitalized at $ 11.23 million. The company at Palmer's direction proceeded to buy, or buy a share in, 14 competitors, assuring them of 80% of

16497-478: The planting of bananas as a cheap source of food for his workers. When the Costa Rican government defaulted on its payments in 1882, Keith had to borrow £ 1.2 million from London banks and from private investors to continue the difficult engineering project. In exchange for this and for renegotiating Costa Rica's own debt, in 1884, the administration of President Próspero Fernández Oreamuno agreed to give Keith 800,000 acres (3,200 km) of tax-free land along

16638-485: The political trends in Africa in the early sixties. الاستعمار الجديد عبارة عن سياسة تعمل من جهة على منح الاستقلال السياسي، وعند الاقتضاء إنشاء دول مصطنعة لا حظ لها في وجود ذاتي، ومن جهة أخرى، تعمل على تقديم مساعدات مصحوبة بوعود تحقيق رفاهية تكون قواعدها في الحقيقة خارج القارة الإفريقية. "Neo-colonialism is a policy that functions on one hand through granting political independence and, when necessary, creating artificial states that have no chance of sovereignty, and on

16779-431: The portion of his company owned by United Fruit, a transaction that was made possible by increasing anti-trust pressure on United Fruit from the United States government. Fully in control of the company, he expanded by buying 20 ships by 1915 that were outfitted with refrigerated holds. Cuyamel Fruit began to cultivate crops beyond bananas: coconuts , pineapples , palm oil , cattle , lumber , and sugarcane . During

16920-406: The railroad, plus a 99-year lease on the operation of the train route. The railroad was completed in 1890, but the flow of passengers proved insufficient to finance Keith's debt. However, the sale of bananas grown in his lands and transported first by train to Limón, then by ship to the United States, proved very lucrative. Keith eventually came to dominate the banana trade in Central America and along

17061-452: The railroads under its control. UFCO also destroyed at least one of those railroads upon leaving its area of operation. In 1954, the Guatemalan government of Colonel Jacobo Árbenz , elected in 1950, was toppled by forces led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas who invaded from Honduras . Commissioned by the Eisenhower administration, this military operation was armed, trained and organized by

17202-469: The unused land owned by the United Fruit Co. and redistribute it to the local peasants. In 1954, the campaign succeeded and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency helped orchestrate a coup that replaced Arbenz with a military junta led by Col. Carlos Castillo Armas . Zemurray retired as president of United Fruit in late 1951. He and his family made generous donations to Tulane University (including

17343-443: The use of ships, and new financial approaches. Partially as a result of banana diseases Sigatoka and Panama disease , Zemurray presided over very large acquisitions of land in Central America. Because the diseases were not curable, United Fruit would simply move to a new area of land after previous ones became infected. In this way, United Fruit came to own the majority of private land in countries like Honduras, even though much of it

17484-405: The welcoming Honduran nation. All the while Honduran bureaucrats would continue to take away the indigenous communal lands to trade for capital investment contracts as well as neglect the fair rights of Honduran laborers. After the peak of the banana republic era, resistance eventually began to grown on the part of small-scale producers and production laborers, due to the exponential rate in growth of

17625-820: The work to resolve the neocolonial involvement of colonial powers in decolonised counties; and said that the U.S., as the leading capitalist country of the world, was, in practise, the principal neocolonialist political actor. Critics of the practice of neocolonialism also argue that investment by multinational corporations enriches few in underdeveloped countries and causes humanitarian , environmental and ecological damage to their populations. They argue that this results in unsustainable development and perpetual underdevelopment. These countries remain reservoirs of cheap labor and raw materials, while restricting access to advanced production techniques to develop their own economies. In some countries, monopolization of natural resources, while initially leading to an influx of investment,

17766-453: The world's system of economies, thus, under-development of the periphery is a direct result of development in the centre. It includes the concept of the late 19th century semi-colony . It contrasts the Marxist perspective of the theory of colonial dependency with capitalist economics. The latter proposes that poverty is a development stage in the poor country's progress towards full integration in

17907-528: The yacht "Hornet", formerly known as the USS Hornet and recently purchased by Zemurray in New Orleans. With a gang of New Orleans mercenaries and plenty of arms and ammunition, they sailed to Roatan to attack, then seize the northern Honduran ports of Trujillo and La Ceiba . Unbeknownst to Zemurray, he was being watched by the US Secret Service . Having captured the aging fort at Roatan, he quickly sold

18048-449: Was United Fruit's principal lobbyist, was married to President Eisenhower's personal secretary, Ann C. Whitman . Many individuals who directly influenced U.S. policy towards Guatemala in the 1950s also had direct ties to UFCO. After the overthrow of Árbenz, a military dictatorship was established under Carlos Castillo Armas. Soon after coming to power, the new government launched a concerted campaign against trade unionists, in which some of

18189-473: Was also a member of the law firm, Sullivan and Cromwell , which had represented United Fruit. His brother Allen Dulles , director of the CIA, was also a board member of United Fruit. United Fruit Company is the only company known to have a CIA cryptonym . The brother of the Assistant Secretary of State for InterAmerican Affairs, John Moors Cabot , had once been president of United Fruit. Ed Whitman, who

18330-444: Was an important step that would eventually lead to the formation of effective trade unions in Costa Rica since the company was required to sign a collective agreement with its workers in 1938. Labor laws in most banana production countries began to be tightened in the 1930s. United Fruit Company saw itself as being specifically targeted by the reforms, and often refused to negotiate with strikers, despite frequently being in violation of

18471-549: Was born to a poor Jewish family in Kishinev , Bessarabia , Russian Empire (present-day Chişinău , Moldova ). His grandfather, Mendel Hirsh of Shargorod , was a Klezmer musician and bandleader. Zemurray grew up on a wheat farm. After his father died, he emigrated to America with his aunt in 1891 at age 14. After landing in New York , he settled in Selma, Alabama , where his uncle owned

18612-411: Was done largely by Jamaican workers, but Zemurray also liked to participate in the physical labor of the fields. At this point, Hubbard believed that Cuyamel Fruit Company's debts had grown too large, and Zemurray bought his share of the business. Zemurray had increased the efficiency of his business through bribery and special deals with the Honduran government. But in 1910, the government of Honduras

18753-623: Was formally independent. After the decolonisation of Belgian Congo , Belgium continued to control, through the Société Générale de Belgique , an estimated 70% of the Congolese economy following the decolonisation process. The most contested part was in the province of Katanga where the Union Minière du Haut Katanga , part of the Société , controlled the mineral-resource-rich province. After

18894-541: Was head of the CIA under Eisenhower, also did legal work for United Fruit. The Dulles brothers and Sullivan & Cromwell were on the United Fruit payroll for thirty-eight years. Recent research has uncovered the names of multiple other government officials who received benefits from United Fruit: John Foster Dulles, who represented United Fruit while he was a law partner at Sullivan & Cromwell – he negotiated that crucial United Fruit deal with Guatemalan officials in

19035-437: Was left uncultivated. In 1953, the U.S. State Department and United Fruit embarked on a major public relations campaign to convince the American people and the rest of the U.S. government that Colonel Jacobo Arbenz intended to make Guatemala a Soviet "satellite". Zemurray authorized Edward Bernays to launch a propaganda campaign against Col. Arbenz's democratically elected government, which intended to expropriate some of

19176-414: Was that UFCO was able to prevent the government from distributing land to peasants who wanted a share of the banana trade. The fact that the UFCO relied so heavily on manipulating land use rights 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

19317-608: Was the daughter of Jake Weinberger, an early figure in the banana trade and employee of Zemurray's. Weinberger published a cookbook titled One Hundred Unusual Dinners and How to Prepare Them . Their daughter, archaeologist Doris Zemurray Stone , was born in 1909. Their son, Samuel Jr., was born in 1913. He went missing in action as a pilot in World War II , leaving a widow and two children. In 1945, Zemurray and Coryell McKinney donated 25 acres (10 ha) of land in Hammond , Louisiana, for

19458-481: Was the largest landowner and employer in Guatemala, and the Árbenz government's land reform program included the expropriation of 40% of UFCO land. U.S. officials had little proof to back their claims of a growing communist threat in Guatemala; however, the relationship between the Eisenhower administration and UFCO demonstrated the influence of corporate interest on U.S. foreign policy. United States Secretary of State John Foster Dulles , an avowed opponent of communism,

19599-535: Was to be the largest single piece of overseas South Korean agricultural infrastructure ever built. In 2009, Hyundai Heavy Industries acquired a majority stake in a company cultivating 10,000 hectares of farmland in the Russian Far East and a South Korean provincial government secured 95,000 hectares of farmland in Oriental Mindoro , central Philippines , to grow corn . The South Jeolla province became

19740-436: Was used to produce a colonial-like exploitation. Neocolonialism takes the form of economic imperialism , globalization , cultural imperialism and conditional aid to influence or control a developing country instead of the previous colonial methods of direct military control or indirect political control ( hegemony ). Neocolonialism differs from standard globalisation and development aid in that it typically results in

19881-468: Was working to reschedule their sovereign debt owed to the United Kingdom . United States Secretary of State Philander C. Knox facilitated the negotiations, which would place agents of bankers J.P. Morgan and Company in the country's customs offices to collect the taxes needed to repay the debt. Zemurray feared that the enforcement of these taxes would ruin his business, and he lobbied Knox to make

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