Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
rolls.Asoneformerfarmsuperintendentrecalledthecapataces''reallyran
the business.''
77
During the 1910s and 1920s, West Indians often served as field bosses
along with Mexicans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans and some North Ameri-
cans.Bythemid-1930s,themajorityoffarmforemenwerenativeSpanish-
speakers.
78
Some ex-field hands recalled the presence of Honduran capa-
taces with a bitterness similar to that of Amaya Amador, but they also
indicated that foremen who knew the ins-and-outs of banana cultivation
earnedtheirrespect.Ontheotherhand,supervisorswholackedhands-on
experience were ridiculed in stories that circulated among workers. One
popular anecdote described a North American manager's first day on a
banana farm: Upon witnessing a workercut down the stalk of an already-
harvested banana plant, the new supervisor angrily accused the worker
of destroying company property.The supervisordid not calm down until
someonegentlyexplainedtohimthatbanana''trees''onlyborefruitonce.
Although such tales usually poked fun at the ignorance of gringo man-
agers, campeños expressed a similar contempt toward Honduran bosses
whose knowledge of banana cultivation came primarily through reading
topics, not handling a machete.
79
For a small number of ex-campeños,the opportunity to be promoted
to foreman represented a rare opportunity for social mobility.
80
InPrisión
verde,when a new workerasks an experienced one how to become acapa-
taz, the latter explains that there are various pathways but that the fastest
route was to have a well-connected padrino, or godfather. This may have
been the casewith RamónVallecillo, who arrived in the Aguán valley with
a letterof recommendation that he presented to Standard Fruit's superin-
tendent of irrigation. Following brief training in both Bordeaux spraying
and irrigation, the twenty-two-year-old Olancho native was made a Bor-
deaux spraycaptain. Heworked onlya few months in that position before
the company transferred him to another farm to fill an opening in irri-
gation. Vallecillo spent four years as a capataz in Standard Fruit's irriga-
tion department working twelve-hour, rotating shifts. Every other week,
he pulled a double shift and worked a twenty-four-hour day. Traveling
on mule-back, he made sure that crews properly managed the overhead
irrigation system. On the night shift, he and his crews worked by lantern
light.Vallecillodidnotrecallhavinganydi
cultiesmanaginghiscrewbut
he admitted that he lacked confidence in them: ''I always had to supervise
them.''
81
Thelonghoursnotwithstanding,Ramónconsideredhimselfvery
lucky: ''They always gave me a letter so that I would be placed in charge
