Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
natives.
49
Ontheotherhand,theirreportsmayhavereflectedtheextentto
which the Cuyamel Fruit railroad primarily served the interests of export
banana growers.
If the residents of Omoa-Cuyamel were ambivalent about the fate of
the railroad, they were anything but when it came to the fruit company's
abandoned land and housing infrastructure. In some cases, local people
were already established on former banana farms when the company an-
nounced its imminent departure. On a property known as ''Cuyamel,''
several families cultivated annual crops in addition to fruit trees, plan-
tains, pineapple, and sugarcane. They began leasing the land from the
Cuyamel Fruit Companyat some point in the 1920s and continued to rent
from United Fruit following its acquisition of the property in 1929.
50
The
renters also occupied company-built houses.
51
When word circulated in
1933 that the national government intended to reclaim the properties, the
Junta de Fomento de Cuyamel (Cuyamel Development Committee) peti-
tioned Honduran President Tiburcio Carías to recognize the presence of
the renters who had occupied the land ''for years.''
52
One year later the
national government approved the statutes of the Junta de Fomento, in-
vesting the body with the power to administer the property.
53
However, the Junta soon became a target of ocial criticism. In 1937,
Cortés Governor Castañeda listed examples of what he characterized as
the committee's ineciency and corruption: ''The former Cuyamel Fruit
Company buildings, with minor exceptions, are deteriorating; there are
no tires on the truck; the promised investments in the property have not
beenmade;andthelandandhouseshavebecomethespoilsoftheJunta.''
54
He also accused the committee of tax evasion and fraud. In addition, local
police o
cials reported that a group of ''non-Hondurans'' living in Cuya-
mel were dismantling former fruit company houses and selling off the
lumber and furniture.
55
In the eyes of Governor Castañeda, the failure of
the Junta de Fomento to prevent illegal actions was further proof of its
inability to administer the Cuyamel property, and he urged his superiors
to dissolve the committee.
In the case of the Omoa-Cuyamel region, then, the fruit com-
pany's departure placed severe constraints on local livelihoods by leaving
hundreds of laborers unemployed and dozens of non-company banana
growers without access to export markets. Railroads and export banana
production on the North Coast had developed hand-in-hand during the
twentieth century; the loss of one tended to spell the end of the other. But
if United Fruit could remove railroad tracks and bridges, it could not haul
away the land. In some instances, former workers gained access to aban-
