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<font size=3><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">July 17-19,
2009<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>From Arbenz to
Zelaya <br><br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
Chiquita (United Fruit) in Latin America
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By NIKOLAS
KOZLOFF <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">W</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>hen 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 Zelaya’s labor reforms
since the company produced around 8 million crates of pineapple and 22
million crates of bananas per year.<br><br>
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 Zelaya’s minimum wage
measure. Amílcar Bulnes, the group’s 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.” <br><br>
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 Zelaya’s return
from exile. <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>Chiquita: From
Arbenz to Bananagate<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>It’s 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.<br><br>
Colsiba compares the infernal labor conditions on Chiquita plantations to
concentration camps. It’s an inflammatory comparison yet may
contain a degree of truth. Women working on Chiquita’s 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.<br><br>
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. What’s more, the company controlled important roads
and railways.<br><br>
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 <i>los pulpos</i> (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.<br><br>
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. <br><br>
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.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>Go-Go Clinton Years
and Colombia<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>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.<br><br>
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. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
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
Chiquita’s relationship with the paramilitaries “was about acquiring
every aspect of banana distribution and sale through a reign of
terror.” <br><br>
Back in Washington, D.C. Charles Lindner, Chiquita’s 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 Clinton’s old boyhood friend Thomas “Mack” McLarty.
At the White House, McLarty served as Chief of Staff and Special Envoy to
Latin America. He’s an intriguing figure who I’ll come back to in a
moment. <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>The Holder-Chiquita
Connection<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Given Chiquita’s underhanded
record in Central America and Colombia it’s 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.<br><br>
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 <i>New York Times</i> building in
Manhattan, Holder prepped Fernando Aguirre, Chiquita’s CEO, for an
interview with <i>60 Minutes</i> dealing with Colombian death
squads.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>The Curious Case of
Covington<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Look a little deeper and you’ll
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. <br><br>
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 Venezuela’s Hugo
Chávez. Furthermore, just recently John Negroponte became
Covington’s Vice Chairman. Negroponte is a former Deputy Secretary
of State, Director of National Intelligence and U.S. Representative to
the United Nations. <br><br>
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. <br><br>
While there’s no evidence linking Chiquita to the recent coup in
Honduras, there’s 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.<br><br>
<b>Nikolas Kozloff</b> is the author of
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0230600573/counterpunchmaga">
<i>Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left</a></i>
(Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008)</font><font face="Verdana" size=3>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Follow his blog at
<a href="http://www.senorchichero.blogspot.com">
senorchichero.blogspot.com</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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