Most Popular Content
Today's:
- How to Use the "Directory of Seeds and Plants"
- How to Make Virgin Coconut Oil With Milyn and Peter Christopher
- Entering El Salvador
- Gringo Land Speculators In Nicaragua Are Sandinista Apologists
- Cutting Through Internet Misinformation About Nicaragua By Pronicaragua And Other "Sources"
- History Of Cinquera in El Salvador
All time:
- How to Use the "Directory of Seeds and Plants"
- How to Make Virgin Coconut Oil With Milyn and Peter Christopher
- Entering El Salvador
- Cutting Through Internet Misinformation About Nicaragua By Pronicaragua And Other "Sources"
- Cost of Living in Nicaragua
- Funny, Odd Sayings
- Gringo Land Speculators In Nicaragua Are Sandinista Apologists
- Farms for Volunteer / Homestay / WWOOF in Nicaragua
- Five Months in Uvita, Costa Rica: A Summary
- What is the REAL truth about buying property in Nicaragua and Costa Rica?
- Coconuts Need Salt: Fertilize Them With Salt or Seawater!
- Vaccination Requirements in Costa Rica
- Are Some Central America Forums Less Impartial Than Meets The Eye?
- Encouraging Innocence Abroad in Nicaragua and Costa Rica
- A Fantastic Day in Paradise
- Real Estate Problems in Nicaragua - Confiscations, Sandinista Squatters, and Original Owner Rage
- Conozca cómo Daniel Ortega preparó el fraude electoral
- Monkey Pulling The Turnip leads to Costa Rica
- Finding a House-sitter or Caretaker Opportunity in Central America
- Online Resources About Central America
Maybe organized crime
cannot be removed, but it can be minimized. I think of the power the mafia once had in NY, and how it is now.
The actions of the United Fruit Company was a very defining event, because it shaped the outcome of the banana republic and even today. It led to the murder of President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala, led by our own CIA and it was the key cause of the views of many CIA directors leading covert operations in Central America under the guise of fighting "communisim.". United Fruit waa the largest banana company in the world with plantations in Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama and Santo Domingo, and the owner married one well known Costa Rica President's daughter. So as you can imagine, the impact of this social phenomenon had a great deal to do with Central American history. United Fruit made profits by corruption in every form of government in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and most of the other places they built their empire. This is why I mentioned them.
A wave of terrorism against local citizens took place, financed by the United Fruit Company. About 2% of the people of places like Guatemala owned any of its land because presidents and other politicians had given the peoples' land away in land grants to United Fruit for political favors, so rents skyrocketed and kept the workers poor. Citizens of these countries employed by this company were killed in these demonstrations by goons and CIA hired from the U.S. And in the end, expropriation became a key word in Latin America, and in turn, those companies who were about to have their land expropriated for treating the citizens so poorly and with great corruption began calling the people "communists" to discredit their fight against corruption. This has a great deal to do with the communist rhetoric that even today, Americans still use. So it was historically a very significant event affecting both U.S. foreign policy and immigration policy and Central American policy even today.