[News] Honduras - Chiquita in Latin America
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Fri Jul 17 11:51:39 EDT 2009
http://www.counterpunch.org/
July 17-19, 2009
From Arbenz to Zelaya
Chiquita (United Fruit) in Latin America
By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF
When the Honduran military overthrew the
democratically elected government of Manuel
Zelaya two weeks ago there might have been a sigh
of relief in the corporate board rooms of
Chiquita banana. Earlier this year the
Cincinnati-based fruit company joined Dole in
criticizing the government in Tegucigalpa which
had raised the minimum wage by 60%. Chiquita
complained that the new regulations would cut
into company profits, requiring the firm to spend
more on costs than in Costa Rica: 20 cents more
to produce a crate of pineapple and ten cents
more to produce a crate of bananas to be
exact. In all, Chiquita fretted that it would
lose millions under Zelayas labor reforms since
the company produced around 8 million crates of
pineapple and 22 million crates of bananas per year.
When the minimum wage decree came down Chiquita
sought help and appealed to the Honduran National
Business Council, known by its Spanish acronym
COHEP. Like Chiquita, COHEP was unhappy about
Zelayas minimum wage measure. Amílcar Bulnes,
the groups president, argued that if the
government went forward with the minimum wage
increase employers would be forced to let workers
go, thus increasing unemployment in the
country. The most important business
organization in Honduras, COHEP groups 60 trade
associations and chambers of commerce
representing every sector of the Honduran
economy. According to its own Web site, COHEP is
the political and technical arm of the Honduran
private sector, supports trade agreements and
provides critical support for the democratic system.
The international community should not impose
economic sanctions against the coup regime in
Tegucigalpa, COHEP argues, because this would
worsen Honduras social problems. In its new
role as the mouthpiece for Honduras poor, COHEP
declares that Honduras has already suffered from
earthquakes, torrential rains and the global
financial crisis. Before punishing the coup
regime with punitive measures, COHEP argues, the
United Nations and the Organization of American
States should send observer teams to Honduras to
investigate how sanctions might affect 70% of
Hondurans who live in poverty. Bulnes meanwhile
has voiced his support for the coup regime of
Roberto Micheletti and argues that the political
conditions in Honduras are not propitious for Zelayas return from exile.
Chiquita: From Arbenz to Bananagate
Its not surprising that Chiquita would seek out
and ally itself to socially and politically
backward forces in Honduras. Colsiba, the
coordinating body of banana plantation workers in
Latin America, says the fruit company has failed
to supply its workers with necessary protective
gear and has dragged its feet when it comes to
signing collective labor agreements in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras.
Colsiba compares the infernal labor conditions on
Chiquita plantations to concentration
camps. Its an inflammatory comparison yet may
contain a degree of truth. Women working on
Chiquitas plantations in Central America work
from 6:30 a.m. until 7 at night, their hands
burning up inside rubber gloves. Some workers
are as young as 14. Central American banana
workers have sought damages against Chiquita for
exposing them in the field to DBCP, a dangerous
pesticide which causes sterility, cancer and birth defects in children.
Chiquita, formerly known as United Fruit Company
and United Brands, has had a long and sordid
political history in Central America. Led by Sam
The Banana Man Zemurray, United Fruit got into
the banana business at the turn of the twentieth
century. Zemurray once remarked famously, In
Honduras, a mule costs more than a member of
parliament. By the 1920s United Fruit
controlled 650,000 acres of the best land in
Honduras, almost one quarter of all the arable
land in the country. Whats more, the company
controlled important roads and railways.
In Honduras the fruit companies spread their
influence into every area of life including
politics and the military. For such tactics they
acquired the name los pulpos (the octopuses, from
the way they spread their tentacles). Those who
did not play ball with the corporations were
frequently found face down on the
plantations. In 1904 humorist O. Henry coined
the term Banana Republic to refer to the
notorious United Fruit Company and its actions in Honduras.
In Guatemala, United Fruit supported the
CIA-backed 1954 military coup against President
Jacobo Arbenz, a reformer who had carried out a
land reform package. Arbenz overthrow led to
more than thirty years of unrest and civil war in
Guatemala. Later in 1961, United Fruit lent its
ships to CIA-backed Cuban exiles who sought to
overthrow Fidel Castro at the Bay of Pigs.
In 1972, United Fruit (now renamed United Brands)
propelled Honduran General Oswaldo López Arellano
to power. The dictator was forced to step down
later however after the infamous Bananagate
scandal which involved United Brands bribes to
Arellano. A federal grand jury accused United
Brands of bribing Arellano with $1.25 million,
with the carrot of another $1.25 million later if
the military man agreed to reduce fruit export
taxes. During Bananagate, United Brands
President fell from a New York City skyscraper in an apparent suicide.
Go-Go Clinton Years and Colombia
In Colombia United Fruit also set up shop and
during its operations in the South American
country developed a no less checkered
profile. In 1928, 3,000 workers went on strike
against the company to demand better pay and
working conditions. At first the company refused
to negotiate but later gave in on some minor
points, declaring the other demands illegal or
impossible. When the strikers refused to
disperse the military fired on the banana workers, killing scores.
You might think that Chiquita would have
reconsidered its labor policies after that but in
the late 1990s the company began to ally itself
with insidious forces, specifically right wing
paramilitaries. Chiquita paid off the men to the
tune of more than a million dollars. In its own
defense, the company declared that it was merely
paying protection money to the paramilitaries.
In 2007, Chiquita paid $25 million to settle a
Justice Department investigation into the
payments. Chiquita was the first company in U.S.
history to be convicted of financial dealings
with a designated terrorist organization.
In a lawsuit launched against Chiquita victims of
the paramilitary violence claimed the firm
abetted atrocities including terrorism, war
crimes and crimes against humanity. A lawyer for
the plaintiffs said that Chiquitas relationship
with the paramilitaries was about acquiring
every aspect of banana distribution and sale
through a reign of terror.
Back in Washington, D.C. Charles Lindner,
Chiquitas CEO, was busy courting the White
House. Lindner had been a big donor to the GOP
but switched sides and began to lavish cash on
the Democrats and Bill Clinton. Clinton repaid
Linder by becoming a key military backer of the
government of Andrés Pastrana which presided over
the proliferation of right wing death squads. At
the time the U.S. was pursuing its
corporately-friendly free trade agenda in Latin
America, a strategy carried out by Clintons old
boyhood friend Thomas Mack McLarty. At the
White House, McLarty served as Chief of Staff and
Special Envoy to Latin America. Hes an
intriguing figure who Ill come back to in a moment.
The Holder-Chiquita Connection
Given Chiquitas underhanded record in Central
America and Colombia its not a surprise that the
company later sought to ally itself with COHEP in
Honduras. In addition to lobbying business
associations in Honduras however Chiquita also
cultivated relationships with high powered law
firms in Washington. According to the Center for
Responsive Politics, Chiquita has paid out
$70,000 in lobbying fees to Covington and Burling over the past three years.
Covington is a powerful law firm which advises
multinational corporations. Eric Holder, the
current Attorney General, a co-chair of the Obama
campaign and former Deputy Attorney General under
Bill Clinton was up until recently a partner at
the firm. At Covington, Holder defended Chiquita
as lead counsel in its case with the Justice
Department. From his perch at the elegant new
Covington headquarters located near the New York
Times building in Manhattan, Holder prepped
Fernando Aguirre, Chiquitas CEO, for an
interview with 60 Minutes dealing with Colombian death squads.
Holder had the fruit company plead guilty to one
count of engaging in transactions with a
specially designated global terrorist
organization. But the lawyer, who was taking in
a hefty salary at Covington to the tune of more
than $2 million, brokered a sweetheart deal in
which Chiquita only paid a $25 million fine over
five years. Outrageously however, not one of the
six company officials who approved the payments received any jail time.
The Curious Case of Covington
Look a little deeper and youll find that not
only does Covington represent Chiquita but also
serves as a kind of nexus for the political right
intent on pushing a hawkish foreign policy in
Latin America. Covington has pursued an
important strategic alliance with Kissinger (of
Chile, 1973 fame) and McLarty Associates (yes,
the same Mack McLarty from Clinton-time), a well
known international consulting and strategic advisory firm.
From 1974 to 1981 John Bolton served as an
associate at Covington. As U.S. Ambassador to
the United Nations under George Bush, Bolton was
a fierce critic of leftists in Latin America such
as Venezuelas Hugo Chávez. Furthermore, just
recently John Negroponte became Covingtons Vice
Chairman. Negroponte is a former Deputy
Secretary of State, Director of National
Intelligence and U.S. Representative to the United Nations.
As U.S. Ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985,
Negroponte played a significant role in assisting
the U.S.-backed Contra rebels intent on
overthrowing the Sandinista regime in
Nicaragua. Human rights groups have criticized
Negroponte for ignoring human rights abuses
committed by Honduran death squads which were
funded and partially trained by the Central
Intelligence Agency. Indeed, when Negroponte
served as ambassador his building in Tegucigalpa
became one of the largest nerve centers of the
CIA in Latin America with a tenfold increase in personnel.
While theres no evidence linking Chiquita to the
recent coup in Honduras, theres enough of a
confluence of suspicious characters and political
heavyweights here to warrant further
investigation. From COHEP to Covington to Holder
to Negroponte to McLarty, Chiquita has sought out
friends in high places, friends who had no love
for the progressive labor policies of the Zelaya regime in Tegucigalpa.
Nikolas Kozloff is the author of
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0230600573/counterpunchmaga>Revolution!
South America and the Rise of the New Left
(Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008) Follow his blog at
<http://www.senorchichero.blogspot.com>senorchichero.blogspot.com
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