Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter8
Banana Cultures in
Comparative Perspective
Theworldwideexpansionofcapitalismandthecreationofaglobal
marketofcommoditieshasbeendrivenbytheprofit-seekingeffort
tocontrolnotonlycheaplabor,technology,ormarkets,butalso
nature.
fernando coronil, 1997
When Hondurans turned on their radios the morning of April 22, 1975,
they learned from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that Colonel
JuanMelgarCastrowasthenewChiefofState,replacingGeneralOswaldo
López Arellano, who two weeks earlier had been accused of accepting a
bribe from the United Brands Corporation.
1
When López Arellano pre-
vented a special Honduran investigating committee from examining his
foreign bank accounts, he was ousted in a bloodless coup. The bribe was
discovered during the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC's)
''routine'' investigation into the death of United Brand's former president
Eli Black, who had committed suicide by jumping out a window of his
o
ce on the forty-fourth floor of the Pan-American building.
2
Following
aWallStreetJournalreport on the investigation, United Brands released a
public statement on April 8, revealing that a $1.25 million bribe had been
paid to a ''high o
cial'' of the Honduran government.
3
Eli Black report-
edlyauthorized the bribe in order to obtain a reduction in the banana ex-
port tax. The SEC charged United Brands with fraud for failing to inform
stockholders of the bribe; after several months of litigation, the company
agreed to a federal court injunction that required it to correct its financial
reports ''with respect to unlawful payments to o
cials and employees of
foreign governments and unlawful foreign political contributions.''
4
From the days of Sam ''Banana Man'' Zemurray to the late twentieth
century, U.S. banana companies employed both legal and extralegal mea-
