Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
''small plantation'' in the area before traveling toTegucigalpa—with funds
supplied by the ex-workers—where he published notice of the forma-
tion of La Paz village and arranged for the government to parcel out lotes
de familia.
101
According to Thomas, Zelaya had even seen the company's
property title and ''accepted'' the ''undeniable rights'' of the company to
the disputed land.The fruit company's general managerconcluded by re-
questing that the President's o
ce overturn the decision to cede the land
to the poquiteros, lift the order halting the company's operations in the
area, and protect the property from further acts of trespass.
102
The respectful yet firm letter, accompanied by several enclosures in
support of the company's position, may have convinced the national gov-
ernment, but it did not deter the residents of La Paz. In 1931, the Mayorof
Sonaguera reported to the municipal council that La Paz was a ''progres-
sivevillagewhoseresidentscultivatebananasonalargescale.''
103
Heurged
the municipality to support the creation of a school in La Paz, a proposal
that elicited a formal protest from the Truxillo Railroad Company. The
residents of La Paz maintained a tenuous hold on the land for three more
years. In fact, the village appears to have grown despite both the ongoing
legal dispute and depressed prices for bananas on international markets.
In 1934, La Paz consisted of 172 houses, 431 families, and a school that en-
rolled 53 students. Residents cultivated approximately 1,200 hectares of
bananas,inadditiontosmalleramountsofplátanomacho,pasture,maize,
and beans.
104
One year earlier, approximately 150 villagers had attended a
council meeting in Sonaguera in order to garner o
cial support for their
efforts to convince Standard Fruit to build a branch rail line toward La
Paz.
105
The municipality agreed to make an o
cial request to the com-
pany concerning the line. During the same session, the municipality also
authorized a cemetery for the village. Its origins may have been mythical,
but La Paz was quickly becoming a tangible reality.
In March 1934, a government commission consisting of Colón Gover-
nor Romero, General Sanabria, and a Truxillo Railroad Company o
cial
went to La Paz to discuss the conditions by which ''an honorable trans-
action of the fruit'' could take place.
106
A declaration submitted by the
company to the Governorof Colón reiterated manyof the points made in
Thomas's 1930 letter, but also contained some important changes in the
company'sposition.
107
TruxilloRailroadCompanyo
cialsexpressedlittle
sympathy toward the poquiteros, whom they described as individuals ''of
diverse backgrounds whoviolentlyand without heed to private property''
established themselves and planted bananas in a place called ''La Isleta.''
The company's 1934 version of events replaced the complex and morally
