Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
road Company. 112 He added that the company was still extending its offer
to purchase the growers' bananas and install the infrastructure needed to
transport the fruit to its railroad. However, according to Gómez, the po-
quiteros refused under any condition to sell their fruit to the company,
preferring to either sell or purchase the land.
The inhabitants of La Paz continued to present evidence in support of
their right to occupy the land during meetings with both government and
company representatives in early May. 113 Then on June 1, 1934, following
what Governor Romero described as ''intense deliberations,'' the parties
struck an agreement whereby the growers would sell their farms to the
company. 114 The accord granted the poquiteros a period of four months
to relocate and permission to continue selling their bananas to Standard
Fruit until the Truxillo Railroad Company was able to erect a transporta-
tion system. How and where the residents of La Paz village relocated is
unclear, but by November 1935, observers referred to the zone as the ''La
PazfarmsoftheTruxilloRailroadCompany,''suggestingthatthecompany
had assumed control over the land as agreed upon. 115
The story of the drawn-out struggle to control the soil resources of
Lot 19 does not readily conform to images of omnipotent fruit compa-
nies usurping the lands of hapless smallholders.Thepoquiteros' stubborn
squatting and shrewd alliance making succeeded in keeping the Truxillo
Railroad Companyat bay forat least fiveyears.The La Paz growers gained
thesupportof localandregionalauthoritiesinspiteofevidenceindicating
that the property had been transferred to the fruit company. The strong
statement of support issued by the Sonaguera municipal council in 1934
suggeststhatifsomelocalelites'initialbackingofthepoquiteroswasmoti-
vated by little more than opportunism, support for La Paz evolved into
an expression of Honduran nationalism. Local o cials did not question
the sanctityof private property, but they believed in the right of ''Hondu-
rans'' to access the resources necessary to create dignified livelihoods. Sig-
nificantly, the La Paz residents sustained local political support through
the initial years of President Carías Andino's sixteen-year rule, a period
in Honduran political history noted for both its authoritarianism and the
far-reaching influence of United Fruit.
Of course, the La Paz villagers' ''silent partner'' throughout the dis-
pute was the Standard Fruit Company, whose willingness to purchase the
poquiteros' fruit provided the latter with access to export markets. The
fact that Standard Fruit refrained from building a branch line to service
La Paz may have reflected the company's reluctance to openly antago-
nize its powerful competitor. On the other hand, by doing business with
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