Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
managed to wrangle land concessions from the national government, but
the capital needed to turn Panama-diseased soils into productive export
banana farms prevented the company from transforming its political in-
fluence into profits.
Political changes in Honduras and elsewhere further complicated
matters for the fruit companies. Following the defeat of fascist regimes in
World War II, authoritarian governments in Central America came under
internal and external pressures to democratize political institutions. In
1948,facedwithgrowingoppositionledbyuniversitystudentsandradical
Liberal party factions, President Carías stepped down from power after
ruling Honduras for sixteen years, paving the way for his vice-president
andformerUnitedFruitCompanylawyer,JuanManualGálvez,toassume
thepresidency.
32
Thefollowingyear,universitystudentsandothersopenly
protested the terms of a concession sought by United Fruit, a clear sig-
nal that the fruit companies' influence inTegucigalpa was waning. In 1950,
President Gálvez signed legislation creating a 15-percent income tax on
the banana companies' in-country earnings. Five years later, the national
government raised the tax rate to 30 percent. At the same time, the Hon-
duran state began promoting cattle, coffee, and cotton exports in order
to diversify the national economy and lessen its dependence on banana
exports for revenue.
33
The Gálvez administration also initiated labor reforms at a timewhen
both the U.S. State Department and the American Federation of Labor
(AFL)werepressuringCentralAmericangovernmentstopromotethefor-
mationofanti-communisttradeunions.In1950,GálvezsignedanOrgani-
zationofAmericanStates(OAS)charterpledgingtodefendworkers'right
to associate. Two years later, the Honduran congress created the Bureau
of Labor and Social Welfare in order to implement reform measures that
included shortening the work day, restricting the use of child labor, and
creating worker compensation. Ex-fieldhand Francisco Portillo recalled
the joy with which workers greeted the eight-hour day: ''I was working
in irrigation. We usually left the fields really late. Then one day, another
crewshoweduptorelieveus.Itwastwointheafternoon.Weallstood
in the field shouting, ''Viva Juan Manual Gálvez!''
34
Accordingtohisto-
rian Darío Euraque, that was precisely the type of reaction that the gov-
ernment hoped to elicit. Gálvez did not envision his reforms as stepping
stones leading to the formation of powerful unions, ''but rather as part of
a state apparatus that would serve to mediate labor disputes.''
35
However, communist organizers (including writer Ramón Amaya
Amador), radical Liberal party members, and activist workers had ideas
