Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
access to the soils, forests, and waters upon which they depended, the
strategy of shifting production would have lost its viability.
In May 1928, port o
cials in New Orleans confiscated $50,000 worth
of arms as they were being loaded aboard a Cuyamel Fruit Steamship
boundforHonduras.Nearlytwentyyearsafterheprovidedlogisticalsup-
port for Manuel Bonilla's rebellion, Sam Zemurray was once again in the
middle of a political scandal.The bungled arms shipment took place dur-
ing an election year in Honduras. Although unable to prove Cuyamel
Fruit's complicity in arms trading, U.S. government o
cials in Honduras
suspected that the company helped funnel weapons to Liberal party sup-
porters in anticipation of a post-election uprising. Zemurray feared that
his ability to lobby the national government would be curtailed if the
United Fruit-backed National Party candidate Tiburcio Carías Andino
were to win the election. He was particularly concerned about maintain-
ing access to the production zone along the disputed border shared by
Honduras and Guatemala.
The struggle to dominate this region started in 1915 when Cuyamel
Fruit—inaccordancewithaconcessionawardedbyHonduras—extended
its railroad toward the Motagua River where United Fruit had recently
established farms on the Guatemalan side of the river. Fearing that the
Cuyamel railroad would break its transportation monopoly in the re-
gion, United Fruit successfully lobbied the Guatemalan government to
protest Cuyamel's activities in the disputed territory. In 1918, the United
States government stepped in to mediate the dispute and both countries
accepted the creation of a ''neutral zone'' pending the completion of a
boundaryconference.Thefruitcompaniesapparentlystruckadealamong
themselves, and for six years Zemurray halted operations in the disputed
territory. However, by the mid-1920s, the combination of Panama dis-
ease and declining soil fertility compelled Zemurray to secure access to
additional land. In 1927, the Chacón government in Guatemala amended
United Fruit's concession, giving the company the legal authority to oper-
ate in the disputed territory. Zemurray responded by reinitiating work
on the unfinished railroad, sparking renewed tensions between the two
countries.
147
With troops assembling on both sides of the contested border, U.S.
diplomatsintervenedonceagain.Atthispoint,Zemurraybegantosup-
port Liberal Party presidential candidate Vicente Colindres Mejía. The
Liberals won the 1928 presidential election but the opposition National
PartyremainedincontroloftheHondurancongress.Facedwithfewalter-
