An ambitious six-part series examining the history of ideas and the social…
When Banana Ruled
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Bananas are everywhere: Americans eat nearly 10 billion of them per year, consuming more pounds of bananas than apples and oranges combined.
WHEN BANANA RULED tells the story of the men who made bananas the most ubiquitous fruit in the world, through a multinational empire that dominated production and sales, overthrew governments, and created a business model still largely used by today’s tech giants.
The story of bananas as commodities begins with a failed railway project started in Costa Rica in 1871, led by American Minor Cooper Keith. When the Costa Rican government defaulted on its payments to Keith for its construction, the businessman faced ruin. His salvation? Bananas. Keith would go on to co-found the United Fruit Company and within decades—after a concerted campaign led by the father of public relations, Edward Bernays—bananas became a staple of the North American diet. Animated mascot Miss Chiquita Banana was a pop culture icon, doctors recommended bananas as an ideal food for children, and bananas popped up in movies and Broadway musicals.
But, as WHEN BANANA RULED documents, the entire enterprise was built on a rapacious, imperialist business model that required the domination of countries including Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia. United Fruit took over critical national infrastructure like railways and ports, rapidly expanded plantations by displacing small (often Indigenous) farmers, bought itself favorable legislation, and, like today’s largest companies, sheltered profits offshore to avoid taxes.
Life on the plantations was a world within a world: A strict hierarchy with white managers from the best business schools, foremen from the US South (recruited for their knowledge of slavery), and black laborers paid largely in company food coupons and strictly forbidden to unionize. When a new, revolutionary government was formed in Guatemala, United Fruit’s plantations were nationalized. What happened next came straight from the playbook that would dominate US foreign policy in the region: claim a Communist threat, persuade legislators back home of its dangers, bomb the country, and install a new, pro-American and pro-business regime.
Using a rich trove of archival footage and documents, including letters to and from lobbyists, telegrams, vintage ads and movie clips, and gorgeous, hand-tinted stills, WHEN BANANA RULED is a story of intrigue that touches on economics, international politics, the history of multinational business and reveals how an array of forces conquered the world through a simple fruit.
Citation
Main credits
Damoisel, Mathilde (film director)
Damoisel, Mathilde (screenwriter)
Guigon, Juliette (film producer)
Winocour, Patrick (film producer)
Other credits
Montage, Solveig Risacher; musique originale, Fabien Bourdier; image, Olivier Raffet, Scott Sinkler.
Distributor subjects
Business; Capitalism; Central America; Economics; History; Globalization; Native PeopleKeywords
00:00:00.292 --> 00:00:01.810
♪
00:00:03.834 --> 00:00:08.310
♪ I’m Chiquita Banana
and I’m here to say ♪
00:00:08.334 --> 00:00:10.059
♪
00:00:10.083 --> 00:00:13.476
This is the story
of a fruit.
00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:17.393
A simple fruit
available all year round
00:00:17.417 --> 00:00:19.268
all around the world.
00:00:19.292 --> 00:00:19.768
♪
00:00:19.792 --> 00:00:20.976
It’s the story of a fruit
00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:22.935
on which an empire was built:
00:00:22.959 --> 00:00:26.560
one of the first modern
multinationals,
00:00:26.584 --> 00:00:28.935
The United Fruit Company.
00:00:28.959 --> 00:00:30.602
♪
00:00:30.626 --> 00:00:33.518
♪ I get the blues
in the mornin’ ♪
00:00:33.542 --> 00:00:36.101
♪ I get the blues
in the night ♪
00:00:36.125 --> 00:00:38.935
♪ But when I eat
a banana sundae ♪
00:00:38.959 --> 00:00:41.435
♪ Mm, it’s just right ♪
00:00:41.459 --> 00:00:44.143
This is the story of a fruit
which altered the destiny
00:00:44.167 --> 00:00:48.476
of Central America
and gave its name to republics.
00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:49.685
♪
00:00:49.709 --> 00:00:52.101
It became notorious,
it became the symbol
00:00:52.125 --> 00:00:56.476
of all that’s wrong
with American capitalism.
00:00:56.500 --> 00:00:58.976
This is an economic
and political tale,
00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:02.143
a little story
about globalization.
00:01:02.167 --> 00:01:02.810
♪
00:01:02.834 --> 00:01:05.059
This is the story of a fruit,
00:01:05.083 --> 00:01:06.935
a simple fruit:
00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:08.435
the banana.
00:01:08.459 --> 00:01:18.709
♪
00:01:21.792 --> 00:01:24.435
(insects chirring)
00:01:24.459 --> 00:01:26.560
It all began in 1871
00:01:26.584 --> 00:01:28.143
when the government
in Costa Rica
00:01:28.167 --> 00:01:31.310
asked a certain
Minor Cooper Keith from New York
00:01:31.334 --> 00:01:33.101
to construct a railway.
00:01:33.125 --> 00:01:34.518
♪
00:01:34.542 --> 00:01:36.226
It was to link
the Caribbean coast
00:01:36.250 --> 00:01:39.602
to the high plateaus
through the jungle.
00:01:39.626 --> 00:01:44.393
♪
00:01:44.417 --> 00:01:46.852
But nothing went as planned.
00:01:46.876 --> 00:01:48.685
The jungle was pitiless.
00:01:48.709 --> 00:01:51.435
Accidents, scorpions, malaria.
00:01:51.459 --> 00:01:52.852
Four thousand men died
00:01:52.876 --> 00:01:55.894
for just 40 kilometers
of railway.
00:01:55.918 --> 00:02:00.351
♪
00:02:00.375 --> 00:02:01.393
And when a stock market crash
00:02:01.417 --> 00:02:04.476
dragged the world economy
into a depression,
00:02:04.500 --> 00:02:06.101
credit disappeared.
00:02:06.125 --> 00:02:07.059
♪
00:02:07.083 --> 00:02:09.185
Costa Rica could no longer pay.
00:02:09.209 --> 00:02:11.810
The railway remained unfinished.
00:02:11.834 --> 00:02:13.999
Minor was ruined.
00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:18.602
♪
00:02:18.626 --> 00:02:19.976
He did not yet know that fortune
00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:22.976
was in fact right there
at his feet,
00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.810
in the humid soil of the jungle,
00:02:25.834 --> 00:02:27.018
in these unpretentious rhizomes
00:02:27.042 --> 00:02:30.059
which he had planted
to feed his workers.
00:02:30.083 --> 00:02:35.476
♪
00:02:35.500 --> 00:02:39.602
In this fruit,
the simple fruit of the tropics,
00:02:39.626 --> 00:02:41.143
the banana.
00:02:41.167 --> 00:02:41.975
(giggles)
00:02:41.999 --> 00:02:44.834
(popping)
00:02:46.876 --> 00:02:53.018
♪
00:02:53.042 --> 00:02:54.976
The simple food
of Costa Rican workers,
00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:57.268
the banana appeared
at the turn of the century
00:02:57.292 --> 00:03:00.768
in northern markets
in the United States.
00:03:00.792 --> 00:03:02.268
It was a prized delicacy,
00:03:02.292 --> 00:03:06.143
expensive because it was rare
and perishable.
00:03:06.167 --> 00:03:13.894
♪
00:03:13.918 --> 00:03:15.643
Whoever managed to transport it
quickly enough
00:03:15.667 --> 00:03:19.810
before it could ripen and rot
could turn it into gold,
00:03:19.834 --> 00:03:21.935
and Minor recognized that.
00:03:21.959 --> 00:03:24.976
Very soon,
he was exporting bananas.
00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.393
They saved him from ruin.
00:03:27.417 --> 00:03:29.185
♪
00:03:29.209 --> 00:03:31.476
He struck an agreement
with Costa Rica.
00:03:31.500 --> 00:03:33.351
He would finish work
on the railway.
00:03:33.375 --> 00:03:36.018
In return,
he asked for just two things:
00:03:36.042 --> 00:03:40.975
The right to operate the line
for his own profit and land--
00:03:40.999 --> 00:03:42.393
lots of it.
00:03:42.417 --> 00:03:42.976
♪
00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:45.894
Land for producing bananas.
00:03:45.918 --> 00:03:46.852
♪
00:03:46.876 --> 00:03:50.602
Trains for transporting them
quickly and cheaply.
00:03:50.626 --> 00:03:52.518
♪
00:03:52.542 --> 00:03:55.518
This was the start
of his fortune.
00:03:55.542 --> 00:03:59.185
♪
00:03:59.209 --> 00:04:04.727
In 1899, Minor joined forces
with two Boston wholesalers.
00:04:04.751 --> 00:04:06.185
He put in his plantations
00:04:06.209 --> 00:04:08.101
and his Central American
railways.
00:04:08.125 --> 00:04:09.935
His associates provided
a fleet of ships
00:04:09.959 --> 00:04:13.976
and a distribution network
across the United States.
00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:15.476
♪
00:04:15.500 --> 00:04:18.018
On the 30th of March, 1899,
00:04:18.042 --> 00:04:19.476
together they founded
00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:21.727
the United Fruit Company.
00:04:21.751 --> 00:04:25.976
♪
00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:28.143
My working definition
of a multinational
00:04:28.167 --> 00:04:32.226
is a company which owns
and controls assets
00:04:32.250 --> 00:04:33.685
in more than one country.
00:04:33.709 --> 00:04:36.894
I would say it’s among
the first of the multinationals
00:04:36.918 --> 00:04:44.268
in this kind of, like, primary
commodity type of--of business.
00:04:44.292 --> 00:04:46.393
And it’s really taking
00:04:46.417 --> 00:04:49.643
the process
of vertical integration
00:04:49.667 --> 00:04:53.810
to quite a--
quite an extreme extent,
00:04:53.834 --> 00:04:55.602
um, including, you know,
constructing
00:04:55.626 --> 00:04:59.393
what’s gonna become one of
the biggest shipping fleets in--
00:04:59.417 --> 00:05:00.935
actually in the world,
00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:04.976
and integrating right down
through to distribution
00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:06.643
in the United States.
00:05:06.667 --> 00:05:11.894
So it’s really quite,
quite extreme at this time.
00:05:11.918 --> 00:05:14.685
But they’re pioneering
in a more fundamental way
00:05:14.709 --> 00:05:17.602
because this company
is actually
00:05:17.626 --> 00:05:20.226
creating a market for bananas
00:05:20.250 --> 00:05:23.810
as well as pioneering
how to deliver the product
00:05:23.834 --> 00:05:25.059
to the consumer.
00:05:25.083 --> 00:05:26.852
So in 1890,
00:05:26.876 --> 00:05:31.852
nobody in the United States
really knew what a banana was,
00:05:31.876 --> 00:05:33.727
basically.
00:05:33.751 --> 00:05:35.018
By 1914,
00:05:35.042 --> 00:05:40.018
you can buy bananas in virtually
all big American towns.
00:05:40.042 --> 00:05:44.518
♪
00:05:44.542 --> 00:05:48.268
Delicious, nourishing,
full of vitamins.
00:05:48.292 --> 00:05:53.500
The United Fruit Company had
a flair for promoting bananas.
00:05:54.209 --> 00:05:57.476
Mothers of families
were the target.
00:05:57.500 --> 00:05:58.852
They published recipes,
00:05:58.876 --> 00:06:02.792
solicited pediatricians
who sang their praises.
00:06:04.083 --> 00:06:05.268
Ah...
00:06:05.292 --> 00:06:06.059
♪
00:06:06.083 --> 00:06:06.727
Very soon,
00:06:06.751 --> 00:06:08.435
Americans could no longer
00:06:08.459 --> 00:06:09.852
do without them.
00:06:09.876 --> 00:06:20.083
♪
00:06:28.667 --> 00:06:31.351
Imported by the ton,
reasonably priced,
00:06:31.375 --> 00:06:33.518
they were accessible
to everyone.
00:06:33.542 --> 00:06:37.685
♪
00:06:37.709 --> 00:06:41.268
♪ We have no bananas ♪
00:06:41.292 --> 00:06:42.310
♪ We have no... ♪
00:06:42.334 --> 00:06:43.476
Bananas were fragile.
00:06:43.500 --> 00:06:45.226
Tempests, flooding,
and heat waves
00:06:45.250 --> 00:06:48.351
regularly devastated
the plantations.
00:06:48.375 --> 00:06:48.810
♪
00:06:48.834 --> 00:06:50.976
Bananas could become scarce.
00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:56.602
♪ But, yes, we have no bananas ♪
00:06:56.626 --> 00:06:59.560
♪ We have no bananas today ♪
00:06:59.584 --> 00:07:02.643
For Minor and his associates,
it was obvious:
00:07:02.667 --> 00:07:05.852
They needed to produce more,
ever more bananas
00:07:05.876 --> 00:07:07.685
over a much larger area--
00:07:07.709 --> 00:07:10.268
right across Central America.
00:07:10.292 --> 00:07:19.792
♪
00:07:21.209 --> 00:07:21.685
♪
00:07:21.709 --> 00:07:25.727
Today, fast white steam ships
travel across the Caribbean
00:07:25.751 --> 00:07:29.143
with cargos more valuable
than pirate’s gold.
00:07:29.167 --> 00:07:33.727
Officers in trim white uniforms
pick up their golden cargos
00:07:33.751 --> 00:07:37.268
from a place we call
Banana Land.
00:07:37.292 --> 00:07:41.643
♪
00:07:41.667 --> 00:07:42.268
Banana Land.
00:07:42.292 --> 00:07:45.768
This was
the Central American nations.
00:07:45.792 --> 00:07:47.268
Former Spanish colonies,
00:07:47.292 --> 00:07:48.310
they had won their independence
00:07:48.334 --> 00:07:51.101
at the beginning
of the 19th century.
00:07:51.125 --> 00:07:52.852
♪
00:07:52.876 --> 00:07:54.894
But the United States
regarded them
00:07:54.918 --> 00:07:56.560
as its private hunting ground,
00:07:56.584 --> 00:07:59.727
a natural extension
of their market.
00:07:59.751 --> 00:08:00.351
♪
00:08:00.375 --> 00:08:02.018
For the United Fruit Company,
00:08:02.042 --> 00:08:03.310
this was one single territory,
00:08:03.334 --> 00:08:07.226
completely given over
to the production of bananas.
00:08:07.250 --> 00:08:09.959
♪
00:08:10.709 --> 00:08:14.935
♪
00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:17.935
The United Fruit Company
kept on growing.
00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:20.393
It needed ever more land.
00:08:20.417 --> 00:08:23.018
♪
00:08:23.042 --> 00:08:24.143
In Panama and Costa Rica,
00:08:24.167 --> 00:08:28.310
Indian farmers who had
no property rights were evicted.
00:08:28.334 --> 00:08:30.727
♪
00:08:30.751 --> 00:08:31.976
By cutting the price of bananas,
00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:33.975
it threatened to ruin
any small producers
00:08:33.999 --> 00:08:37.560
who refused to give up
their banana plantations.
00:08:37.584 --> 00:08:37.976
♪
00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:39.852
Little by little,
it took over
00:08:39.876 --> 00:08:41.393
hundreds of thousands
of hectares
00:08:41.417 --> 00:08:44.476
of Central America’s
best land.
00:08:44.500 --> 00:08:47.560
♪
00:08:47.584 --> 00:08:48.310
(speaking French)
00:08:48.334 --> 00:08:49.435
It’s exactly what happened
00:08:49.459 --> 00:08:51.476
during the land reforms
in Great Britain,
00:08:51.500 --> 00:08:52.975
which began in the 16th century
00:08:52.999 --> 00:08:55.560
and carried on
until the 18th century.
00:08:55.584 --> 00:08:57.268
You had poor British
land workers
00:08:57.292 --> 00:08:59.643
who were expropriated
in the same way.
00:08:59.667 --> 00:09:01.143
There’s no other word for it.
00:09:01.167 --> 00:09:02.727
The land, which they cultivated,
00:09:02.751 --> 00:09:05.727
started to have fences
put up around it.
00:09:05.751 --> 00:09:07.852
And by the 18th century,
they had been obliged
00:09:07.876 --> 00:09:10.685
to give up their workforce
to the factories
00:09:10.709 --> 00:09:12.792
which were beginning to appear.
00:09:12.959 --> 00:09:14.351
So in reality,
this movement
00:09:14.375 --> 00:09:16.393
is at the origin
of contemporary industry
00:09:16.417 --> 00:09:17.935
and economy
as we know them today.
00:09:17.959 --> 00:09:21.709
It was the founding act
of contemporary capitalism.
00:09:22.459 --> 00:09:25.375
(murmur of conversation)
00:09:31.626 --> 00:09:34.975
Did the United Fruit Company
introduce capitalism
00:09:34.999 --> 00:09:37.083
to Central America?
00:09:43.751 --> 00:09:45.727
In any case,
it brought in very early on
00:09:45.751 --> 00:09:49.393
a certain vision
of development and progress.
00:09:49.417 --> 00:09:51.976
♪
00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:54.894
The train was at the origin
of the good fortune
00:09:54.918 --> 00:09:55.810
of Minor Cooper Keith,
00:09:55.834 --> 00:09:58.810
the founder of
the United Fruit Company.
00:09:58.834 --> 00:10:00.435
♪
00:10:00.459 --> 00:10:02.685
For the young nations
of Central America,
00:10:02.709 --> 00:10:05.518
it was synonymous
with modernity.
00:10:05.542 --> 00:10:08.643
♪
00:10:08.667 --> 00:10:12.268
Guatemala wanted its own,
but the country was in debt.
00:10:12.292 --> 00:10:16.185
And when the price of coffee,
its primary resource, collapsed,
00:10:16.209 --> 00:10:18.476
it could no longer pay.
00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:20.643
The railway was abandoned.
00:10:20.667 --> 00:10:23.476
♪
00:10:23.500 --> 00:10:28.602
In 1903, Guatemala turned to
the one person able to save it:
00:10:28.626 --> 00:10:30.351
Minor Cooper Keith.
00:10:30.375 --> 00:10:31.185
♪
00:10:31.209 --> 00:10:34.226
Minor agreed
to take over the work.
00:10:34.250 --> 00:10:35.435
In exchange, as usual,
00:10:35.459 --> 00:10:37.976
he asked for land
for banana plantations
00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.143
and the right to operate
the new train
00:10:40.167 --> 00:10:42.059
for his own profit.
00:10:42.083 --> 00:10:42.975
♪
00:10:42.999 --> 00:10:44.018
He also acquired control
00:10:44.042 --> 00:10:45.810
over the country’s main port,
00:10:45.834 --> 00:10:48.059
as well as the telegraph lines.
00:10:48.083 --> 00:10:53.685
♪
00:10:53.709 --> 00:10:55.852
And that is how,
in order to gain a train,
00:10:55.876 --> 00:10:58.643
Guatemala gave away
to the United Fruit Company
00:10:58.667 --> 00:11:01.935
its infrastructures,
its economy,
00:11:01.959 --> 00:11:03.602
and its future.
00:11:03.626 --> 00:11:07.685
♪
00:11:07.709 --> 00:11:10.435
And thus
the company’s empire grew...
00:11:10.459 --> 00:11:12.810
to the detriment
of these new states
00:11:12.834 --> 00:11:13.852
in search of progress
00:11:13.876 --> 00:11:17.059
but with no resources
and in debt.
00:11:17.083 --> 00:11:21.602
♪
00:11:21.626 --> 00:11:23.101
In other words,
more often than not,
00:11:23.125 --> 00:11:27.101
the debt of the poor helps
line the pockets of the rich.
00:11:27.125 --> 00:11:29.476
Here you had an attempt
to privatize the totality
00:11:29.500 --> 00:11:32.226
of the public sphere
through the debt mechanism,
00:11:32.250 --> 00:11:33.935
which reiterated
the fundamental act
00:11:33.959 --> 00:11:37.894
of expropriation of common
property, typically land,
00:11:37.918 --> 00:11:41.500
for the profit
of a very small number.
00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:49.059
The banana producing countries
00:11:49.083 --> 00:11:50.560
of the Caribbean
and Central America
00:11:50.584 --> 00:11:53.976
in this way bound themselves
one after the other
00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:55.709
to the company.
00:11:58.083 --> 00:12:01.727
Each time, it obtained the right
to pay little or no taxes
00:12:01.751 --> 00:12:04.268
to the countries
in which it operated,
00:12:04.292 --> 00:12:06.518
draining their resources
even more
00:12:06.542 --> 00:12:09.083
and assuring their dependence.
00:12:10.125 --> 00:12:12.667
(murmur of crowd)
00:12:12.834 --> 00:12:16.476
Thousands of letters have been
found on a plantation in Panama,
00:12:16.500 --> 00:12:17.976
a massive internal
correspondence
00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.476
which illustrates
the daily life of the company
00:12:20.500 --> 00:12:24.375
and its long history
of tax avoidance.
00:12:25.125 --> 00:12:26.059
♪
00:12:26.083 --> 00:12:30.351
Letter from a United Fruit
Company head to his manager.
00:12:30.375 --> 00:12:31.268
♪
00:12:31.292 --> 00:12:34.602
Panama, October the 26th, 1918.
00:12:34.626 --> 00:12:36.185
♪
00:12:36.209 --> 00:12:36.852
"Dear Mr. Kyes,
00:12:36.876 --> 00:12:39.435
While having a chat with
the President the other day,
00:12:39.459 --> 00:12:41.560
he asked me why we were
so unfair to Panama
00:12:41.584 --> 00:12:45.976
as to pay her only one cent
per bunch export taxes."
00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:47.602
♪
00:12:47.626 --> 00:12:50.351
"We talked over the matter
frankly at some length
00:12:50.375 --> 00:12:52.435
and he finally told me,
’Don’t worry;
00:12:52.459 --> 00:12:56.226
you always have gotten
what you want, my friend.’"
00:12:56.250 --> 00:12:57.143
♪
00:12:57.167 --> 00:12:59.602
"Signed, Carson McFarland."
00:12:59.626 --> 00:13:03.894
♪
00:13:03.918 --> 00:13:07.226
Republic of Panama,
Presidential Offices.
00:13:07.250 --> 00:13:09.643
December the 17th, 1918.
00:13:09.667 --> 00:13:10.268
♪
00:13:10.292 --> 00:13:11.894
To Mr. McFarland.
00:13:11.918 --> 00:13:12.518
"My dear friend,
00:13:12.542 --> 00:13:14.685
I have received
the draft legislation
00:13:14.709 --> 00:13:15.894
concerning tax increases.
00:13:15.918 --> 00:13:18.393
I have sent it to some deputies
who are friends of mine
00:13:18.417 --> 00:13:20.852
so they can introduce
the modifications
00:13:20.876 --> 00:13:21.810
which you suggest,
00:13:21.834 --> 00:13:23.268
and which I have accepted.
00:13:23.292 --> 00:13:25.643
Your friend,
Belisario Porras,"
00:13:25.667 --> 00:13:27.751
President of Panama.
00:13:28.209 --> 00:13:31.209
(murmur of crowd)
00:13:33.542 --> 00:13:34.852
In the case of
the United Fruit,
00:13:34.876 --> 00:13:38.268
it had all these wonderful
tax free concessions and things,
00:13:38.292 --> 00:13:42.768
but honestly practically
every western company
00:13:42.792 --> 00:13:45.351
all over Latin America and Asia
00:13:45.375 --> 00:13:47.852
had the same--
had the same conditions.
00:13:47.876 --> 00:13:50.185
Basically,
they had the bargaining power,
00:13:50.209 --> 00:13:53.018
they had the technological
advantage and the money.
00:13:53.042 --> 00:13:54.393
These places wanted them,
00:13:54.417 --> 00:13:58.959
and the deal was
very little taxes.
00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:09.310
In our age, uh,
tax avoidance or tax planning,
00:14:09.334 --> 00:14:11.810
as it’s called
in business schools,
00:14:11.834 --> 00:14:17.435
has become a central feature
of business globally,
00:14:17.459 --> 00:14:19.685
and that’s
a quite different situation
00:14:19.709 --> 00:14:23.685
from when, you know,
developing fragile states
00:14:23.709 --> 00:14:24.768
in the 19th century
00:14:24.792 --> 00:14:27.476
were offering low tax,
low taxes.
00:14:27.500 --> 00:14:30.393
Now it’s the core of business.
00:14:30.417 --> 00:14:31.393
Obviously a multinational
00:14:31.417 --> 00:14:33.643
may be tempted to avoid
fiscal legislation
00:14:33.667 --> 00:14:36.101
in the sovereign countries
where it is set up.
00:14:36.125 --> 00:14:39.852
To do this, they employ a method
which is well known today,
00:14:39.876 --> 00:14:41.976
which is the policy
of transfer pricing,
00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.727
which consists of making profits
show up in the accounts
00:14:44.751 --> 00:14:48.727
in the most favorable places
in terms of taxation.
00:14:48.751 --> 00:14:49.643
This is a political issue.
00:14:49.667 --> 00:14:51.476
Do we want these sums of money
to be given back
00:14:51.500 --> 00:14:54.727
to the public authorities
to be used for the common good?
00:14:54.751 --> 00:14:57.476
Or do we continue to allow
a state’s fiscal revenue
00:14:57.500 --> 00:14:59.560
to be siphoned off
by multinationals?
00:14:59.584 --> 00:15:04.602
It’s a social issue which
affects the entire planet.
00:15:04.626 --> 00:15:08.810
♪
00:15:08.834 --> 00:15:11.435
What a destiny the banana has.
00:15:11.459 --> 00:15:12.101
♪
00:15:12.125 --> 00:15:14.476
A simple fruit
capable of conquering
00:15:14.500 --> 00:15:15.643
a Central American empire
00:15:15.667 --> 00:15:18.894
and securing a place
as an exemplary multinational
00:15:18.918 --> 00:15:21.685
with a long future
ahead of it.
00:15:21.709 --> 00:15:29.768
♪
00:15:29.792 --> 00:15:31.975
An American writer,
O. Henry,
00:15:31.999 --> 00:15:33.894
crowned it for posterity.
00:15:33.918 --> 00:15:36.310
♪
00:15:36.334 --> 00:15:39.435
In his 1904 novel
Cabbages and Kings,
00:15:39.459 --> 00:15:41.143
he describes an imaginary state
00:15:41.167 --> 00:15:43.602
totally under the thumb
of a fruit company.
00:15:43.626 --> 00:15:47.059
And for the occasion,
he crafted the expression
00:15:47.083 --> 00:15:48.852
"banana republic."
00:15:48.876 --> 00:15:50.351
♪
00:15:50.375 --> 00:15:53.375
(insects chirring)
00:16:04.918 --> 00:16:10.894
♪
00:16:10.918 --> 00:16:12.018
Wherever you came across them,
00:16:12.042 --> 00:16:16.143
the United Fruit plantations
were in a world apart.
00:16:16.167 --> 00:16:17.393
♪
00:16:17.417 --> 00:16:18.018
A closed world,
00:16:18.042 --> 00:16:21.351
governed by the laws
of the company alone.
00:16:21.375 --> 00:16:26.685
♪
00:16:26.709 --> 00:16:28.643
A segregated world.
00:16:28.667 --> 00:16:31.727
♪
00:16:31.751 --> 00:16:34.101
On one side,
the white managers and foremen:
00:16:34.125 --> 00:16:37.435
the former, graduates of the
best East Coast universities;
00:16:37.459 --> 00:16:40.768
the latter, recruited from
the South of the United States,
00:16:40.792 --> 00:16:44.268
bringing with them their
knowledge of slave culture.
00:16:44.292 --> 00:16:54.334
♪
00:16:54.542 --> 00:16:57.476
The banana plantations
were their domain,
00:16:57.500 --> 00:17:00.226
an American enclave
in the tropics.
00:17:00.250 --> 00:17:02.310
♪
00:17:02.334 --> 00:17:04.685
They formed
an exclusive social entity
00:17:04.709 --> 00:17:06.810
with a certain way of life.
00:17:06.834 --> 00:17:17.042
♪
00:17:26.834 --> 00:17:29.935
Telegram dated
the 29th of May, 1919,
00:17:29.959 --> 00:17:33.185
to the United Fruit Company
Head Office.
00:17:33.209 --> 00:17:34.310
♪
00:17:34.334 --> 00:17:36.310
"Last lot of laborers are bad,
00:17:36.334 --> 00:17:37.727
mostly criminal."
00:17:37.751 --> 00:17:41.602
"Cannot use Puerto Rican,
Panama, Nicaragua laborers."
00:17:41.626 --> 00:17:44.643
"Continue sending
Jamaican laborers."
00:17:44.667 --> 00:17:49.518
♪
00:17:49.542 --> 00:17:53.768
The laborers on the plantations
constituted the workforce,
00:17:53.792 --> 00:17:56.959
a stock
which required organizing.
00:18:00.042 --> 00:18:01.226
♪
00:18:01.250 --> 00:18:05.727
Jamaicans were prized for their
reputed strength and endurance.
00:18:05.751 --> 00:18:06.101
♪
00:18:06.125 --> 00:18:08.975
They were imported
in their tens of thousands
00:18:08.999 --> 00:18:09.935
from the island of Jamaica.
00:18:09.959 --> 00:18:13.894
They were herded around
from plantation to plantation.
00:18:13.918 --> 00:18:22.643
♪
00:18:22.667 --> 00:18:24.101
Amongst the native population,
00:18:24.125 --> 00:18:27.975
Indians were relegated
to domestic chores.
00:18:27.999 --> 00:18:31.435
The Hispanic people
aroused suspicion.
00:18:31.459 --> 00:18:33.435
♪
00:18:33.459 --> 00:18:34.894
The workers
which the company preferred
00:18:34.918 --> 00:18:39.975
were those who were uprooted,
isolated, and docile.
00:18:39.999 --> 00:18:42.226
Unions were forbidden.
00:18:42.250 --> 00:18:45.351
♪
00:18:45.375 --> 00:18:48.560
Letter from a foreman
to his head office.
00:18:48.584 --> 00:18:51.185
The 17th of June, 1924.
00:18:51.209 --> 00:18:51.602
♪
00:18:51.626 --> 00:18:53.226
"I have been in
Bocas del Toro, Panama,
00:18:53.250 --> 00:18:57.268
with the United Fruit Company
since June 1911."
00:18:57.292 --> 00:18:57.976
♪
00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.643
"I am familiar with these
laborers and their habits,
00:19:00.667 --> 00:19:03.476
and I know that the least
these negroes and natives know
00:19:03.500 --> 00:19:07.476
about organization,
the better off they are."
00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:17.751
♪
00:19:22.083 --> 00:19:25.727
Entire towns had to be built
by the company
00:19:25.751 --> 00:19:27.268
to house these workers.
00:19:27.292 --> 00:19:30.852
Sometimes large swamps
had to be drained.
00:19:30.876 --> 00:19:39.685
♪
00:19:39.709 --> 00:19:40.768
The company avoided taxes
00:19:40.792 --> 00:19:45.310
but prided itself on creating
whole villages in the jungle.
00:19:45.334 --> 00:19:47.101
♪
00:19:47.125 --> 00:19:50.185
It housed the laborers
and their families...
00:19:50.209 --> 00:19:51.685
♪
00:19:51.709 --> 00:19:54.476
...built dispensaries
and hospitals...
00:19:54.500 --> 00:19:56.894
♪
00:19:56.918 --> 00:20:00.143
...opened schools
for the children of its workers.
00:20:00.167 --> 00:20:01.975
♪
00:20:01.999 --> 00:20:04.101
(bell ringing)
00:20:04.125 --> 00:20:11.685
♪
00:20:11.709 --> 00:20:13.435
Salaries were often paid
in vouchers,
00:20:13.459 --> 00:20:16.810
which laborers could only spend
in the company’s own shops,
00:20:16.834 --> 00:20:21.768
which sold food, clothing,
furniture, and tools.
00:20:21.792 --> 00:20:31.667
♪
00:20:31.834 --> 00:20:32.935
(speaking French)
00:20:32.959 --> 00:20:34.727
The United Fruit way
of doing things
00:20:34.751 --> 00:20:36.602
was completely in line
with the practices
00:20:36.626 --> 00:20:39.685
of a lot of directors
of western companies,
00:20:39.709 --> 00:20:41.643
with practices
concerning employees,
00:20:41.667 --> 00:20:43.602
which at best were
paternalistic--
00:20:43.626 --> 00:20:45.894
social protection
was privatized.
00:20:45.918 --> 00:20:49.852
But not allowing people
to form unions to have a voice
00:20:49.876 --> 00:20:52.435
means that from an
anthropological point of view,
00:20:52.459 --> 00:20:54.101
you don’t recognize the freedom,
00:20:54.125 --> 00:20:57.459
the fundamental rights
of the person.
00:20:58.125 --> 00:20:58.935
You basically deny them
00:20:58.959 --> 00:21:02.351
part of what is
the human condition,
00:21:02.375 --> 00:21:04.018
and perhaps most importantly,
00:21:04.042 --> 00:21:05.935
you deny them the capacity
to contribute
00:21:05.959 --> 00:21:10.101
to the political community
in which they are implicated,
00:21:10.125 --> 00:21:11.268
not only because they receive
00:21:11.292 --> 00:21:13.476
a certain amount
of material gain,
00:21:13.500 --> 00:21:16.351
but also because
they’re an active participant
00:21:16.375 --> 00:21:20.417
who takes part
in its transformation.
00:21:23.375 --> 00:21:25.810
Despite the company
controlling every moment
00:21:25.834 --> 00:21:27.518
of its employees’ lives,
00:21:27.542 --> 00:21:29.351
demands started to be made
00:21:29.375 --> 00:21:31.810
for a six day week
and an eight hour day,
00:21:31.834 --> 00:21:36.083
unemployment benefit,
and salaries paid in cash.
00:21:40.375 --> 00:21:43.643
Throughout Banana Land,
anger was growing.
00:21:43.667 --> 00:21:46.209
The company became alarmed.
00:21:47.751 --> 00:21:49.727
Circular number B-21.
00:21:49.751 --> 00:21:52.310
From the United Fruit Company
General Offices
00:21:52.334 --> 00:21:54.059
to Banana Division Managers.
00:21:54.083 --> 00:21:55.975
"I am joining a photograph
for the purpose
00:21:55.999 --> 00:21:58.351
of familiarizing you
with the appearance
00:21:58.375 --> 00:22:00.226
of Manuel Cálix Herrera.
00:22:00.250 --> 00:22:03.226
This man is an agitator
of the worst type:
00:22:03.250 --> 00:22:04.727
anti-America, extremist,
00:22:04.751 --> 00:22:08.226
given to writing and preaching
Red, Bolshevist,
00:22:08.250 --> 00:22:10.435
and Communistic propaganda.
00:22:10.459 --> 00:22:12.101
Be on the lookout."
00:22:12.125 --> 00:22:13.976
♪
00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:17.500
(distant shouting
and clattering)
00:22:18.918 --> 00:22:19.768
In October 1928,
00:22:19.792 --> 00:22:23.310
workers at the Santa Marta
plantation in Colombia
00:22:23.334 --> 00:22:24.351
went on strike.
00:22:24.375 --> 00:22:27.643
(distant shouting)
00:22:27.667 --> 00:22:29.959
Negotiations failed.
00:22:30.500 --> 00:22:32.018
Strikers attacked buildings
00:22:32.042 --> 00:22:33.643
on the plantation.
00:22:33.667 --> 00:22:34.018
♪
00:22:34.042 --> 00:22:36.976
The Colombian government
sent in the army.
00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:38.059
♪
00:22:38.083 --> 00:22:40.018
Over 1000 died.
00:22:40.042 --> 00:22:50.292
♪
00:22:51.584 --> 00:22:53.727
The suppression
of the Santa Marta strike
00:22:53.751 --> 00:22:56.351
became known
as the Banana Massacre.
00:22:56.375 --> 00:22:57.476
♪
00:22:57.500 --> 00:22:58.810
A fundamental point in history
00:22:58.834 --> 00:23:01.518
for Colombia
and Central America.
00:23:01.542 --> 00:23:02.268
♪
00:23:02.292 --> 00:23:03.935
The symbol of state submission,
00:23:03.959 --> 00:23:05.143
with use of its public forces
00:23:05.167 --> 00:23:08.059
to support the interests
of a foreign company.
00:23:08.083 --> 00:23:10.999
(crowd shouting)
00:23:12.417 --> 00:23:15.059
From then on,
throughout the Caribbean,
00:23:15.083 --> 00:23:17.101
everybody spoke of the Octopus,
00:23:17.125 --> 00:23:20.643
the new name
for the United Fruit Company.
00:23:20.667 --> 00:23:30.209
♪
00:23:30.999 --> 00:23:36.643
♪
00:23:36.667 --> 00:23:37.602
In June 1929,
00:23:37.626 --> 00:23:40.226
Minor Cooper Keith,
the banana pioneer,
00:23:40.250 --> 00:23:42.852
the uncrowned king
of Central America,
00:23:42.876 --> 00:23:45.059
died in Costa Rica.
00:23:45.083 --> 00:23:50.059
♪
00:23:50.083 --> 00:23:53.268
The empire he left behind
was immense:
00:23:53.292 --> 00:23:54.810
100,000 employees,
00:23:54.834 --> 00:23:58.935
1,200,000 hectares
of plantations.
00:23:58.959 --> 00:24:00.935
♪
00:24:00.959 --> 00:24:03.935
In 1910, buying up
the British wholesaler Fyffes
00:24:03.959 --> 00:24:06.751
had opened the doors
of Europe to him.
00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:10.268
At the time of Minor’s death,
the United Fruit Company alone
00:24:10.292 --> 00:24:14.476
represented three quarters
of the world’s banana trade.
00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:15.935
♪
00:24:15.959 --> 00:24:19.310
A few competitors survived
in the shadows.
00:24:19.334 --> 00:24:21.476
The United Fruit Company
tolerated them.
00:24:21.500 --> 00:24:24.852
They allowed it to avoid
the American antitrust laws
00:24:24.876 --> 00:24:27.000
which forbade monopolies.
00:24:31.125 --> 00:24:34.435
♪
00:24:34.459 --> 00:24:35.351
The Cuyamel Fruit Company
00:24:35.375 --> 00:24:38.560
was the company’s
principal competitor.
00:24:38.584 --> 00:24:41.393
At its head was Samuel Zemurray.
00:24:41.417 --> 00:24:41.975
♪
00:24:41.999 --> 00:24:43.268
He was tall and gruff,
00:24:43.292 --> 00:24:45.476
with a strong Russian accent.
00:24:45.500 --> 00:24:46.435
♪
00:24:46.459 --> 00:24:47.518
He was seen as a visionary,
00:24:47.542 --> 00:24:52.101
capable of making bananas grow
on the most hostile land.
00:24:52.125 --> 00:24:55.226
♪
00:24:55.250 --> 00:24:58.643
In 1910, he had overturned
the government of Honduras
00:24:58.667 --> 00:25:00.518
which had tried
to get in his way,
00:25:00.542 --> 00:25:02.643
and he didn’t hide the fact.
00:25:02.667 --> 00:25:06.018
In Banana Land,
this man was a legend.
00:25:06.042 --> 00:25:07.417
♪
00:25:08.042 --> 00:25:10.834
His was an American destiny.
00:25:11.834 --> 00:25:15.518
His story began like
so many others on Ellis Island
00:25:15.542 --> 00:25:18.101
in 1892.
00:25:18.125 --> 00:25:19.976
Samuel Zemurray was 15.
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.310
He had left his whole family
in a shtetl in Bessarabia
00:25:23.334 --> 00:25:25.685
to try his luck in America.
00:25:25.709 --> 00:25:35.792
♪
00:25:36.125 --> 00:25:38.602
They say that he tasted
his first banana
00:25:38.626 --> 00:25:40.560
in Selma, Alabama.
00:25:40.584 --> 00:25:42.727
♪
00:25:42.751 --> 00:25:44.185
A revelation.
00:25:44.209 --> 00:25:48.626
♪
00:25:52.667 --> 00:25:55.059
He started out in the docks
of Mobile,
00:25:55.083 --> 00:25:57.685
a port in the Gulf of Mexico.
00:25:57.709 --> 00:26:01.727
That’s where he first saw
the white ships of United Fruit,
00:26:01.751 --> 00:26:04.018
the unloading of bananas,
00:26:04.042 --> 00:26:07.250
the wheeling and dealing
of the traders.
00:26:12.083 --> 00:26:16.727
Samuel learned to spot the fruit
which no one else wanted--
00:26:16.751 --> 00:26:18.018
the bananas
which were already ripe,
00:26:18.042 --> 00:26:21.268
and which it was impossible
to transport quickly enough
00:26:21.292 --> 00:26:23.310
to far off markets.
00:26:23.334 --> 00:26:26.792
He made a bulk purchase
for next to nothing.
00:26:29.042 --> 00:26:30.268
He hired a wagon,
00:26:30.292 --> 00:26:31.810
and over
the following three days,
00:26:31.834 --> 00:26:33.727
he sold his entire stock
on the platforms
00:26:33.751 --> 00:26:36.727
of the southern stations
which he passed through.
00:26:36.751 --> 00:26:41.393
With his first trip,
he earned $40.
00:26:41.417 --> 00:26:49.602
♪
00:26:49.626 --> 00:26:52.435
Sam the Banana Man had arrived.
00:26:52.459 --> 00:26:59.435
♪
00:26:59.459 --> 00:27:02.643
Samuel Zemurray stood up
to United Fruit for a long time
00:27:02.667 --> 00:27:06.685
until his competition became
too troublesome for them.
00:27:06.709 --> 00:27:07.602
♪
00:27:07.626 --> 00:27:11.351
In November 1929,
he accepted a merger.
00:27:11.375 --> 00:27:11.768
♪
00:27:11.792 --> 00:27:15.476
United Fruit bought out
his company, Cuyamel.
00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:17.810
Samuel received
$30 million worth
00:27:17.834 --> 00:27:20.435
of United Fruit Company shares.
00:27:20.459 --> 00:27:22.185
♪
00:27:22.209 --> 00:27:23.018
(cash register ringing)
00:27:23.042 --> 00:27:25.101
This made him
one of the richest men
00:27:25.125 --> 00:27:26.976
in the United States,
00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:30.810
and also United Fruit’s
biggest shareholder.
00:27:30.834 --> 00:27:33.393
♪
00:27:33.417 --> 00:27:36.975
In 1933, he dismissed
the company’s board of directors
00:27:36.999 --> 00:27:40.310
and took singlehanded control
of affairs.
00:27:40.334 --> 00:27:41.852
♪
00:27:41.876 --> 00:27:44.393
One magazine of the time
ran the headline,
00:27:44.417 --> 00:27:47.268
"A Jonah Who Swallowed
the Whale."
00:27:47.292 --> 00:27:54.852
♪
00:27:54.876 --> 00:27:55.894
At 56 years of age,
00:27:55.918 --> 00:28:00.226
Samuel Zemurray was
the uncontested czar of bananas.
00:28:00.250 --> 00:28:10.500
♪
00:28:14.209 --> 00:28:16.101
An empire cannot stand still.
00:28:16.125 --> 00:28:18.975
If it doesn’t grow, it falls.
00:28:18.999 --> 00:28:21.976
♪
00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:23.185
(dinging)
00:28:23.209 --> 00:28:26.310
The Second World War
froze international trade,
00:28:26.334 --> 00:28:27.476
but with the end of the war
00:28:27.500 --> 00:28:30.810
came the promise
of reconstruction,
00:28:30.834 --> 00:28:31.602
of growth,
00:28:31.626 --> 00:28:35.351
of new markets
for United Fruit’s bananas.
00:28:35.375 --> 00:28:38.143
♪
00:28:38.167 --> 00:28:42.143
To conquer them, Samuel Zemurray
found the right person--
00:28:42.167 --> 00:28:43.643
a pioneer of his own kind,
00:28:43.667 --> 00:28:47.393
the prince of public relations
and publicity,
00:28:47.417 --> 00:28:49.018
Edward Bernays.
00:28:49.042 --> 00:28:50.894
♪
00:28:50.918 --> 00:28:54.101
He was a man with the gift
of being able to fashion reality
00:28:54.125 --> 00:28:56.935
according to
his clients’ wishes.
00:28:56.959 --> 00:28:57.435
♪
00:28:57.459 --> 00:29:00.768
In the 1920s, it was this man,
Edward Bernays,
00:29:00.792 --> 00:29:03.143
who had got American women
smoking,
00:29:03.167 --> 00:29:05.268
convincing them
that the cigarette
00:29:05.292 --> 00:29:06.351
was a torch of liberty,
00:29:06.375 --> 00:29:09.226
the instrument
of their emancipation.
00:29:09.250 --> 00:29:11.518
♪
00:29:11.542 --> 00:29:12.685
This was during his time working
00:29:12.709 --> 00:29:15.975
for the powerful
American Tobacco Company.
00:29:15.999 --> 00:29:18.018
In his book entitledPropaganda,
00:29:18.042 --> 00:29:20.810
Edward Bernays defended,
in his own words,
00:29:20.834 --> 00:29:22.643
"the conscious
and intelligent manipulation
00:29:22.667 --> 00:29:26.185
of the organized habits
and opinions of the masses
00:29:26.209 --> 00:29:28.810
by an enlightened minority."
00:29:28.834 --> 00:29:33.101
♪
00:29:33.125 --> 00:29:35.226
Could it have been his uncle,
Sigmund Freud,
00:29:35.250 --> 00:29:37.560
who led him to understand
so early on
00:29:37.584 --> 00:29:38.852
that in a consumer society,
00:29:38.876 --> 00:29:41.226
publicity was the key
to desire?
00:29:41.250 --> 00:29:43.518
And that consumer desire
could be created,
00:29:43.542 --> 00:29:47.768
maintained, and stimulated
ad infinitum?
00:29:47.792 --> 00:29:54.518
♪
00:29:54.542 --> 00:29:58.351
Bananas are a favorite
breakfast fruit in every home.
00:29:58.375 --> 00:29:59.727
Sliced over hot or cold cereal,
00:29:59.751 --> 00:30:03.935
they top off any dish
and help start the day right.
00:30:03.959 --> 00:30:07.059
♪
00:30:07.083 --> 00:30:09.185
Samuel Zemurray
was to turn the banana
00:30:09.209 --> 00:30:12.226
into the fruit
of American dreams.
00:30:12.250 --> 00:30:13.768
♪
00:30:13.792 --> 00:30:16.185
We know you like bananas.
00:30:16.209 --> 00:30:20.500
♪
00:30:21.250 --> 00:30:25.518
♪
00:30:25.542 --> 00:30:29.268
♪ I’m Chiquita Banana
and I’ve come to say ♪
00:30:29.292 --> 00:30:31.518
♪ Bananas have to ripen
in a certain way ♪
00:30:31.542 --> 00:30:34.976
♪ And when they’re flecked with
brown and have a golden hue ♪
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:38.393
♪ Bananas taste the best
and are the best for you ♪
00:30:38.417 --> 00:30:42.268
Miss Chiquita Banana
burst onto the radio waves
00:30:42.292 --> 00:30:43.852
and television screens.
00:30:43.876 --> 00:30:44.975
She was everywhere.
00:30:44.999 --> 00:30:46.643
♪ Means that you are
ripe for cooking ♪
00:30:46.667 --> 00:30:49.852
♪ I’m Chiquita Banana
and I’ve come to say ♪
00:30:49.876 --> 00:30:52.810
♪ That they rarely use
refrigerators up this way ♪
00:30:52.834 --> 00:30:55.685
♪ I’m Chiquita Banana
and I’ve come to say ♪
00:30:55.709 --> 00:30:59.226
♪ That you really shouldn’t
treat a fellow man this way ♪
00:30:59.250 --> 00:31:02.101
♪ If you like to be
refined and civilized ♪
00:31:02.125 --> 00:31:06.810
♪ Your eating habits
really ought to be revised ♪
00:31:06.834 --> 00:31:08.975
Her tone of voice
and curvaceous form
00:31:08.999 --> 00:31:11.975
was similar to those
of a star of the time,
00:31:11.999 --> 00:31:12.727
Carmen Miranda,
00:31:12.751 --> 00:31:14.435
the Brazilian
in the Tutti Frutti Hat
00:31:14.459 --> 00:31:17.560
who featured
in Hollywood comedies.
00:31:17.584 --> 00:31:21.975
♪
00:31:21.999 --> 00:31:23.768
This was not by chance.
00:31:23.792 --> 00:31:25.310
Carmen Miranda was South America
00:31:25.334 --> 00:31:28.852
as the United States
wished to portray it.
00:31:28.876 --> 00:31:31.226
Exotic, eccentric,
00:31:31.250 --> 00:31:32.310
but close by,
00:31:32.334 --> 00:31:34.685
a continuation of itself.
00:31:34.709 --> 00:31:37.810
♪ The lady
in the Tutti Frutti Hat ♪
00:31:37.834 --> 00:31:44.226
♪
00:31:44.250 --> 00:31:46.643
In the ideal world
of Miss Chiquita Banana,
00:31:46.667 --> 00:31:51.351
each banana was calibrated
both by form and by taste.
00:31:51.375 --> 00:31:51.975
♪
00:31:51.999 --> 00:31:55.185
The company only produced
one variety,
00:31:55.209 --> 00:31:56.602
the Gros Michel.
00:31:56.626 --> 00:31:59.518
Tasty, fleshy, resistant,
00:31:59.542 --> 00:32:01.727
and therefore exportable.
00:32:01.751 --> 00:32:03.727
♪
00:32:03.751 --> 00:32:06.185
Ever more needed to be produced.
00:32:06.209 --> 00:32:11.185
♪
00:32:11.209 --> 00:32:14.351
But it is not enough
to have the right conditions
00:32:14.375 --> 00:32:16.435
for the bananas to flourish.
00:32:16.459 --> 00:32:19.101
It is also necessary
to fight constantly
00:32:19.125 --> 00:32:23.209
the decisions that can ruin
whole plantations.
00:32:26.584 --> 00:32:29.976
On the plantations weakened
by intensive monoculture,
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:32.935
two virulent parasites
were spreading:
00:32:32.959 --> 00:32:36.768
Panama disease
and Yellow Sigatoka.
00:32:36.792 --> 00:32:37.143
♪
00:32:37.167 --> 00:32:41.226
Miss Chiquita Banana’s swaying
hips couldn’t hide the reality.
00:32:41.250 --> 00:32:45.000
The empire was rotting
from the inside.
00:32:52.626 --> 00:32:54.727
Samuel Zemurray
had tons of pesticide
00:32:54.751 --> 00:32:58.101
poured over the banana plants
relentlessly,
00:32:58.125 --> 00:33:00.375
up to 30 times a year.
00:33:04.292 --> 00:33:07.643
Those who volunteered
received the best pay.
00:33:07.667 --> 00:33:10.602
They were known
as the"veneneros,"
00:33:10.626 --> 00:33:12.018
the poisonous.
00:33:12.042 --> 00:33:16.226
Very soon,
their skin took on a blue tint.
00:33:16.250 --> 00:33:18.250
They fell ill.
00:33:19.417 --> 00:33:21.334
Dozens died.
00:33:25.083 --> 00:33:25.810
♪
00:33:25.834 --> 00:33:28.852
See how each bunch is dipped
several times.
00:33:28.876 --> 00:33:31.975
Great care is taken to see
that the bunches are clean
00:33:31.999 --> 00:33:34.560
before they leave
the plantation.
00:33:34.584 --> 00:33:38.101
♪
00:33:38.125 --> 00:33:42.810
From ten years, the lifetime
of a plantation fell to three.
00:33:42.834 --> 00:33:43.727
♪
00:33:43.751 --> 00:33:46.518
The infected ones
were abandoned.
00:33:46.542 --> 00:33:46.935
♪
00:33:46.959 --> 00:33:50.351
The jungle was cut down
to create new ones.
00:33:50.375 --> 00:33:51.935
Always more.
00:33:51.959 --> 00:33:53.935
♪
00:33:53.959 --> 00:33:57.435
As though Central America
could be totally given over
00:33:57.459 --> 00:33:59.185
to United Fruit.
00:33:59.209 --> 00:34:08.226
♪
00:34:08.250 --> 00:34:09.602
It’s impressive
because you realize
00:34:09.626 --> 00:34:13.393
that it’s also a parable of the
perverse effects of capitalism
00:34:13.417 --> 00:34:14.768
and the logic of accumulation.
00:34:14.792 --> 00:34:17.852
After all, the logic
intrinsic to capitalism
00:34:17.876 --> 00:34:19.310
is the accumulation of capital,
00:34:19.334 --> 00:34:21.268
of which there is
no foreseeable end,
00:34:21.292 --> 00:34:22.935
with the idea that
the resources being used
00:34:22.959 --> 00:34:27.810
are available in indefinite,
not to say infinite, quantity.
00:34:27.834 --> 00:34:31.268
♪
00:34:31.292 --> 00:34:32.976
What is sadly wonderful
in this example
00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:35.226
is seeing how the company
should have realized
00:34:35.250 --> 00:34:38.101
that it was not at all
in their interests,
00:34:38.125 --> 00:34:40.975
and that it was indulging in
completely criminal practices
00:34:40.999 --> 00:34:43.852
with regards to those
who were losing their lives,
00:34:43.876 --> 00:34:46.435
to carry on feeding
a machine which,
00:34:46.459 --> 00:34:49.143
quite apart from
the environmental implications,
00:34:49.167 --> 00:34:50.727
and consequently future profits,
00:34:50.751 --> 00:34:54.975
from an economic activity
point of view was useless.
00:34:54.999 --> 00:34:57.185
In the end,
this self-perpetuating logic
00:34:57.209 --> 00:35:01.143
requires someone, be it a board,
an institution, or a leader,
00:35:01.167 --> 00:35:03.226
to step in and say,
"Stop everything.
00:35:03.250 --> 00:35:07.059
We need to find another way
of doing things."
00:35:07.083 --> 00:35:13.542
♪
00:35:31.792 --> 00:35:38.685
♪
00:35:38.709 --> 00:35:42.185
In 1944, revolution
came to Guatemala.
00:35:42.209 --> 00:35:44.768
It put an end
to the 14 year reign
00:35:44.792 --> 00:35:46.351
of the dictator Ubico,
00:35:46.375 --> 00:35:49.894
the best friend
of the United Fruit Company.
00:35:49.918 --> 00:35:51.018
♪
00:35:51.042 --> 00:35:54.643
Ubico saw himself as
the reincarnation of Napoleon
00:35:54.667 --> 00:35:56.101
and was so protective
of his power
00:35:56.125 --> 00:35:59.059
that he banned the use
of the words "strike,"
00:35:59.083 --> 00:36:01.518
"petition," and "union."
00:36:01.542 --> 00:36:03.226
♪
00:36:03.250 --> 00:36:05.852
He believed in forced labor
for the poorest,
00:36:05.876 --> 00:36:08.727
and in the lowest
possible salaries.
00:36:08.751 --> 00:36:11.226
♪
00:36:11.250 --> 00:36:13.643
The agreements which
he signed with United Fruit
00:36:13.667 --> 00:36:16.268
were highly favorable
for them.
00:36:16.292 --> 00:36:23.059
♪
00:36:23.083 --> 00:36:25.101
Multinationals like United Fruit
00:36:25.125 --> 00:36:29.727
sought stability
for its--for its investments.
00:36:29.751 --> 00:36:31.143
Democracies can be
very unstable.
00:36:31.167 --> 00:36:34.101
I mean, there’s a reason
why multinational investment
00:36:34.125 --> 00:36:37.810
is very low in India,
and the reason is its democracy
00:36:37.834 --> 00:36:40.226
where, uh,
there are multiple parties
00:36:40.250 --> 00:36:43.560
always sort of checking deals,
negotiating everything,
00:36:43.584 --> 00:36:48.643
and that’s a veritable, uh,
nightmare for multinationals,
00:36:48.667 --> 00:36:52.894
and they prefer to op as they
operate in China, for example,
00:36:52.918 --> 00:36:55.768
where provided
the Communist party
00:36:55.792 --> 00:36:57.976
approves of your activities,
00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:01.185
you’ll have a high degree
of stability
00:37:01.209 --> 00:37:02.643
and things will basically--
00:37:02.667 --> 00:37:04.476
you won’t run into
any sort of trouble.
00:37:04.500 --> 00:37:07.727
So I think--I think that’s
what multinationals are after,
00:37:07.751 --> 00:37:11.101
some sort of security
and stability,
00:37:11.125 --> 00:37:12.976
and tin-pot dictators
00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:16.602
or the Communist party
can give you--
00:37:16.626 --> 00:37:18.018
can give you that.
00:37:18.042 --> 00:37:23.226
♪
00:37:23.250 --> 00:37:25.393
(screaming)
00:37:25.417 --> 00:37:26.059
♪
00:37:26.083 --> 00:37:27.768
With its promise of labor laws,
00:37:27.792 --> 00:37:29.185
union rights, and minimum wage,
00:37:29.209 --> 00:37:32.560
the Guatemalan Revolution
certainly offered no reassurance
00:37:32.584 --> 00:37:35.685
concerning the company’s
business affairs.
00:37:35.709 --> 00:37:45.959
♪
00:37:46.626 --> 00:37:52.101
In 1951, free elections brought
Colonel Jacobo Árbenz to power.
00:37:52.125 --> 00:37:53.560
♪
00:37:53.584 --> 00:37:55.185
Despite his Germanic origins,
00:37:55.209 --> 00:37:56.602
he had grown up in the poverty
00:37:56.626 --> 00:37:58.727
of a high plains village.
00:37:58.751 --> 00:37:59.727
He was a white man brought up
00:37:59.751 --> 00:38:02.351
amongst Guatemala’s
underprivileged,
00:38:02.375 --> 00:38:05.018
Indians of Maya origin.
00:38:05.042 --> 00:38:07.185
(applause)
00:38:07.209 --> 00:38:09.935
Jacobo Árbenz set about
putting into practice
00:38:09.959 --> 00:38:12.101
the first promise
of the revolution:
00:38:12.125 --> 00:38:14.018
land reform,
which would redistribute
00:38:14.042 --> 00:38:17.602
the land of the large owners
to the small farmers.
00:38:17.626 --> 00:38:21.101
(crowd shouting)
00:38:21.125 --> 00:38:22.435
♪
00:38:22.459 --> 00:38:24.268
But at the top of the list
of large owners,
00:38:24.292 --> 00:38:27.852
with more than two thirds of
the country’s agricultural land,
00:38:27.876 --> 00:38:30.185
was the United Fruit Company.
00:38:30.209 --> 00:38:40.000
♪
00:38:40.167 --> 00:38:42.602
Almost two thirds
of its population
00:38:42.626 --> 00:38:44.435
is of Indian descent,
00:38:44.459 --> 00:38:45.226
living primitively,
00:38:45.250 --> 00:38:48.667
barely getting sustenance
from the soil...
00:38:50.751 --> 00:38:55.226
...in a nation of many large,
efficiently run plantations
00:38:55.250 --> 00:38:58.310
geared to produce
maximum profit.
00:38:58.334 --> 00:38:59.268
♪
00:38:59.292 --> 00:39:01.975
Árbenz dared to take them on.
00:39:01.999 --> 00:39:06.975
♪
00:39:06.999 --> 00:39:08.059
By decree, he confiscated
00:39:08.083 --> 00:39:10.268
hundreds of thousands
of hectares of land
00:39:10.292 --> 00:39:13.101
which the company
kept in reserve.
00:39:13.125 --> 00:39:14.643
♪
00:39:14.667 --> 00:39:16.268
The indemnities were derisory.
00:39:16.292 --> 00:39:18.560
They were based on
the company’s tax declarations,
00:39:18.584 --> 00:39:21.602
which had always
underestimated the value.
00:39:21.626 --> 00:39:26.351
♪
00:39:26.375 --> 00:39:30.643
United Fruit had never before
been defied in this way.
00:39:30.667 --> 00:39:37.393
♪
00:39:37.417 --> 00:39:40.268
In his youth, Samuel Zemurray
had had no qualms
00:39:40.292 --> 00:39:42.894
about overturning
a troublesome government.
00:39:42.918 --> 00:39:45.018
This time,
with no mercenaries at hand,
00:39:45.042 --> 00:39:48.643
he once again turned to
the public relations genius
00:39:48.667 --> 00:39:50.059
Edward Bernays.
00:39:50.083 --> 00:39:51.351
♪
00:39:51.375 --> 00:39:54.810
It was up to him
to deal with Árbenz.
00:39:54.834 --> 00:39:56.894
♪
00:39:56.918 --> 00:39:58.727
Bernays was to employ
a technique
00:39:58.751 --> 00:40:01.101
of which he was the master--
00:40:01.125 --> 00:40:03.268
transforming reality.
00:40:03.292 --> 00:40:07.351
♪
00:40:07.375 --> 00:40:08.685
He set about turning
the protection
00:40:08.709 --> 00:40:11.643
of United Fruit’s private
interests in Guatemala
00:40:11.667 --> 00:40:13.976
into a cause
for the United States,
00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:16.894
making the banana
a strategic pawn.
00:40:16.918 --> 00:40:20.476
♪
00:40:20.500 --> 00:40:24.768
Edward Bernays was to create
a fiction for 1950s America,
00:40:24.792 --> 00:40:26.935
submerged in the Cold War.
00:40:26.959 --> 00:40:28.602
♪
00:40:28.626 --> 00:40:30.518
In this Guatemalan town
of Esquipulas,
00:40:30.542 --> 00:40:33.226
just occupied by
anti-government forces...
00:40:33.250 --> 00:40:36.226
Social democrat,
nationalist, reformer.
00:40:36.250 --> 00:40:40.310
Jacobo Árbenz was depicted as
a communist pledged to Moscow,
00:40:40.334 --> 00:40:43.685
the face of the Red Peril
which threatened America,
00:40:43.709 --> 00:40:45.852
versus the free world.
00:40:45.876 --> 00:40:49.435
♪
00:40:49.459 --> 00:40:52.518
Edward Bernays needed
to win over public opinion.
00:40:52.542 --> 00:40:56.059
He opened a Central American
Information Bureau,
00:40:56.083 --> 00:40:57.393
organized press visits,
00:40:57.417 --> 00:40:58.975
and suggested themes
for articles
00:40:58.999 --> 00:41:02.059
to newspaper owners
who he was close to.
00:41:02.083 --> 00:41:12.334
♪
00:41:12.584 --> 00:41:16.059
So Bernays
really understood it’s--
00:41:16.083 --> 00:41:19.393
you know,
it’s not what is happening,
00:41:19.417 --> 00:41:24.101
it’s the story you tell
about what is happening
00:41:24.125 --> 00:41:26.975
that--that is the--
that is the reality.
00:41:26.999 --> 00:41:31.310
And that’s something, um,
he was greatly admired
00:41:31.334 --> 00:41:33.810
and studied in Nazi Germany,
00:41:33.834 --> 00:41:35.310
who carried post-truth
00:41:35.334 --> 00:41:38.435
to another--
uh, to another level.
00:41:38.459 --> 00:41:42.518
And now we’ve--we see
in our present world
00:41:42.542 --> 00:41:46.059
with social networks
and--and much else,
00:41:46.083 --> 00:41:51.810
this story intensifying
with all its severe consequences
00:41:51.834 --> 00:41:52.685
for--for democracy.
00:41:52.709 --> 00:41:55.310
But we could already see
where it was going to lead
00:41:55.334 --> 00:41:59.101
with episodes like Bernays
and United Fruit.
00:41:59.125 --> 00:42:02.852
♪
00:42:02.876 --> 00:42:07.351
The context was ripe
for Edward Bernays’ power play.
00:42:07.375 --> 00:42:08.268
Preserve...
00:42:08.292 --> 00:42:09.602
In November 1952,
00:42:09.626 --> 00:42:10.768
the Republican Dwight Eisenhower
00:42:10.792 --> 00:42:13.976
was elected President
of the United States.
00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:15.976
So help you God?
00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:17.602
So help me God.
00:42:17.626 --> 00:42:19.727
(applause)
00:42:19.751 --> 00:42:23.351
After years of policies
designed to contain communism,
00:42:23.375 --> 00:42:26.268
he advocated
a frontal offensive.
00:42:26.292 --> 00:42:27.185
♪
00:42:27.209 --> 00:42:29.810
He placed two brothers
in key posts.
00:42:29.834 --> 00:42:33.310
John Foster Dulles
became Secretary of State.
00:42:33.334 --> 00:42:36.727
Alan Dulles was put in charge
of the CIA.
00:42:36.751 --> 00:42:39.685
♪
00:42:39.709 --> 00:42:42.226
Both of them had been
close legal advisors
00:42:42.250 --> 00:42:44.351
to the United Fruit Company.
00:42:44.375 --> 00:42:46.310
♪
00:42:46.334 --> 00:42:49.059
As for the new ambassador
to the United Nations,
00:42:49.083 --> 00:42:51.727
this was none other than
the flamboyant senator
00:42:51.751 --> 00:42:53.268
Henry Cabot Lodge,
00:42:53.292 --> 00:42:55.727
a faithful lobbyist
for the company’s interests
00:42:55.751 --> 00:42:59.143
whose family were
longstanding shareholders.
00:42:59.167 --> 00:43:02.852
♪
00:43:02.876 --> 00:43:07.310
These were all people tuned in
to Edward Bernays’ message.
00:43:07.334 --> 00:43:08.976
♪
00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:11.435
Mr. Dulles, I know you’ve heard
this many times,
00:43:11.459 --> 00:43:14.268
that there are people
who say that we,
00:43:14.292 --> 00:43:15.310
with regard to the CIA,
00:43:15.334 --> 00:43:20.226
are waging a secret war
with an invisible government.
00:43:20.250 --> 00:43:22.185
We are...
00:43:22.209 --> 00:43:26.101
obviously engaged in many facets
00:43:26.125 --> 00:43:29.727
of what is generally called
the Cold War,
00:43:29.751 --> 00:43:33.768
uh, which the communist policies
forced upon us.
00:43:33.792 --> 00:43:37.185
But may I say this,
and I do it with all solemnity:
00:43:37.209 --> 00:43:43.602
At no time has the CIA engaged
in any political activity
00:43:43.626 --> 00:43:46.185
or any intelligence activity
00:43:46.209 --> 00:43:50.143
that was not approved
at the highest level.
00:43:50.167 --> 00:43:53.351
♪
00:43:53.375 --> 00:43:53.976
In August 1953,
00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:58.852
Alan Dulles’s CIA
began a new means of attack.
00:43:58.876 --> 00:43:59.226
♪
00:43:59.250 --> 00:44:01.560
In Iran, it overturned
the government
00:44:01.584 --> 00:44:02.393
of Mohammad Mosaddegh,
00:44:02.417 --> 00:44:05.476
who had nationalized
his country’s petrol industry.
00:44:05.500 --> 00:44:08.351
He was accused
of communist collusion.
00:44:08.375 --> 00:44:11.602
♪
00:44:11.626 --> 00:44:13.560
Petrol before bananas?
00:44:13.584 --> 00:44:15.768
♪
00:44:15.792 --> 00:44:17.351
The success
of the Iranian operation
00:44:17.375 --> 00:44:20.310
convinced
the Eisenhower administration.
00:44:20.334 --> 00:44:22.268
The CIA was given
the green light
00:44:22.292 --> 00:44:24.018
to take action in Guatemala.
00:44:24.042 --> 00:44:27.209
(static and mixed voices)
00:44:28.792 --> 00:44:31.101
The operation was named Success.
00:44:31.125 --> 00:44:32.435
(static and mixed voices)
00:44:32.459 --> 00:44:35.059
The patient lobbying
by Edward Bernays
00:44:35.083 --> 00:44:37.435
had borne fruit.
00:44:37.459 --> 00:44:40.059
(crowd shouting)
00:44:40.083 --> 00:44:49.792
♪
00:44:50.125 --> 00:44:54.435
The CIA chose an opponent
for the Árbenz regime.
00:44:54.459 --> 00:44:58.101
♪
00:44:58.125 --> 00:45:00.185
Colonel Castillo Armas.
00:45:00.209 --> 00:45:01.852
♪
00:45:01.876 --> 00:45:05.185
It placed him at the head
of a national liberation army
00:45:05.209 --> 00:45:06.685
which it was training.
00:45:06.709 --> 00:45:09.310
The plantations
of the United Fruit Company
00:45:09.334 --> 00:45:11.935
were used as rearguard bases.
00:45:11.959 --> 00:45:14.435
♪
00:45:14.459 --> 00:45:19.310
In June 1954, the capital,
Guatemala City, was bombed.
00:45:19.334 --> 00:45:25.727
♪
00:45:25.751 --> 00:45:30.435
Overpowered, Jacobo Árbenz
stood down on the 27th of June
00:45:30.459 --> 00:45:32.542
in a radio announcement.
00:45:59.292 --> 00:46:02.018
♪
00:46:02.042 --> 00:46:05.393
Having become president with
support from the United States,
00:46:05.417 --> 00:46:07.643
Castillo Armas
cancelled the measures
00:46:07.667 --> 00:46:10.101
taken by the Árbenz government.
00:46:10.125 --> 00:46:10.976
♪
00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:12.768
Land reform was abandoned.
00:46:12.792 --> 00:46:15.935
United Fruit
had its lands given back.
00:46:15.959 --> 00:46:18.143
♪
00:46:18.167 --> 00:46:22.209
But neither stability
nor security returned.
00:46:27.000 --> 00:46:28.351
Following the coup d’état,
00:46:28.375 --> 00:46:30.643
Guatemala was thrown
into civil war,
00:46:30.667 --> 00:46:33.351
which continued until 1996,
00:46:33.375 --> 00:46:35.975
leaving more than 100,000 dead,
00:46:35.999 --> 00:46:37.351
a million displaced,
00:46:37.375 --> 00:46:39.685
and tens of thousands missing.
00:46:39.709 --> 00:46:41.602
(hum of helicopter)
00:46:41.626 --> 00:46:45.560
The Maya Indians were
the principal victims,
00:46:45.584 --> 00:46:47.518
with talk of genocide.
00:46:47.542 --> 00:46:53.393
♪
00:46:53.417 --> 00:46:59.185
So United Fruit built a highly
successful business model
00:46:59.209 --> 00:47:06.185
and it could not care less
what kind of damage it did
00:47:06.209 --> 00:47:07.268
to Guatemala.
00:47:07.292 --> 00:47:10.560
The Árbenz coup, like,
destroyed the country,
00:47:10.584 --> 00:47:13.602
ruined it for--for 50 years.
00:47:13.626 --> 00:47:18.226
Now we have
a bunch of tech firms now
00:47:18.250 --> 00:47:24.310
who have developed extremely
successful business models,
00:47:24.334 --> 00:47:27.226
but there is almost no evidence
00:47:27.250 --> 00:47:32.560
that they are thinking about
the societal consequences
00:47:32.584 --> 00:47:34.435
of what they’re doing.
00:47:34.459 --> 00:47:37.143
So we know from the last
U.S. presidential election
00:47:37.167 --> 00:47:42.852
that Facebook was
a massive driver of fake news.
00:47:42.876 --> 00:47:45.059
Big, big, big time.
00:47:45.083 --> 00:47:47.435
So these are really big, uh,
00:47:47.459 --> 00:47:50.975
really, really big societal
consequences, you can see,
00:47:50.999 --> 00:47:55.018
and companies are just
doing their business model,
00:47:55.042 --> 00:47:57.018
uh, very successfully,
00:47:57.042 --> 00:47:59.768
and have no way of
incorporating, I think,
00:47:59.792 --> 00:48:02.602
into their thinkings
the "so whats."
00:48:02.626 --> 00:48:03.894
What does that mean for society?
00:48:03.918 --> 00:48:11.101
And that’s what United Fruit
and its equivalents did.
00:48:11.125 --> 00:48:18.768
♪
00:48:18.792 --> 00:48:19.518
(speaking French)
00:48:19.542 --> 00:48:21.435
The development of countries
of the south
00:48:21.459 --> 00:48:24.810
cannot be conferred exclusively
upon private multinationals
00:48:24.834 --> 00:48:26.894
who, as long as
their mandate remains
00:48:26.918 --> 00:48:29.643
to maximize
shareholders’ profits,
00:48:29.667 --> 00:48:30.935
represent a potential threat
00:48:30.959 --> 00:48:33.393
for a number
of southern populations
00:48:33.417 --> 00:48:35.602
in the sense that
they are always tempted
00:48:35.626 --> 00:48:36.643
to privatize all the resources
00:48:36.667 --> 00:48:41.125
which communities depend upon
for their livelihood.
00:48:42.209 --> 00:48:47.810
♪
00:48:47.834 --> 00:48:50.351
This doesn’t mean to say
that these multinationals
00:48:50.375 --> 00:48:52.351
are not also part
of the solution.
00:48:52.375 --> 00:48:54.768
It means they need
to be reorganized
00:48:54.792 --> 00:48:55.560
with a social objective
00:48:55.584 --> 00:48:58.560
as opposed to just
maximum stock market value.
00:48:58.584 --> 00:49:01.476
Of course, there are initiatives
which lean in this direction
00:49:01.500 --> 00:49:03.810
within the context
of what we might call
00:49:03.834 --> 00:49:06.393
social and solidarity economics,
00:49:06.417 --> 00:49:07.894
but on the whole,
it has to be remarked
00:49:07.918 --> 00:49:10.643
that many multinationals
still have a lot of progress
00:49:10.667 --> 00:49:12.685
to make in these matters.
00:49:12.709 --> 00:49:14.768
♪
00:49:14.792 --> 00:49:18.018
So as not to jeopardize either
its functioning or its fortune,
00:49:18.042 --> 00:49:21.518
the United Fruit Company
blocked any reform in Guatemala.
00:49:21.542 --> 00:49:25.518
As a result, it became
a focal point for anger.
00:49:25.542 --> 00:49:32.476
♪
00:49:32.500 --> 00:49:33.685
In January 1959,
00:49:33.709 --> 00:49:35.852
Cuban revolutionaries
took Havana
00:49:35.876 --> 00:49:38.018
and overthrew
the Batista regime,
00:49:38.042 --> 00:49:40.685
supported by the United States.
00:49:40.709 --> 00:49:45.143
♪
00:49:45.167 --> 00:49:47.018
Ernesto Guevara, the "Che,"
00:49:47.042 --> 00:49:48.727
the lieutenant of Fidel Castro,
00:49:48.751 --> 00:49:50.226
was in Guatemala.
00:49:50.250 --> 00:49:50.894
♪
00:49:50.918 --> 00:49:55.185
He had been radicalized by
the overthrow of Jacobo Árbenz.
00:49:55.209 --> 00:49:56.852
♪
00:49:56.876 --> 00:49:58.810
He no longer believed in reform.
00:49:58.834 --> 00:50:00.976
Revolution needed to be total.
00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:02.393
(murmur of crowd)
00:50:02.417 --> 00:50:05.768
♪
00:50:05.792 --> 00:50:08.852
In 1960,
Fidel Castro nationalized
00:50:08.876 --> 00:50:10.894
all North American businesses.
00:50:10.918 --> 00:50:13.918
(murmur of crowd)
00:50:18.042 --> 00:50:19.560
(cheering)
00:50:19.584 --> 00:50:21.268
♪
00:50:21.292 --> 00:50:24.935
This time, both Edward Bernays
and Samuel Zemurray
00:50:24.959 --> 00:50:26.226
were powerless.
00:50:26.250 --> 00:50:28.852
(cheering)
00:50:28.876 --> 00:50:31.685
♪
00:50:31.709 --> 00:50:35.894
The czar of bananas
died in 1961.
00:50:35.918 --> 00:50:38.602
His empire did not outlive him.
00:50:38.626 --> 00:50:39.226
♪
00:50:39.250 --> 00:50:41.018
The United Fruit Company
disappeared
00:50:41.042 --> 00:50:43.602
in successive takeovers
and mergers.
00:50:43.626 --> 00:50:47.042
It was replaced
by Chiquita Brands.
00:50:52.918 --> 00:50:53.685
Overpowered by disease,
00:50:53.709 --> 00:50:56.310
the Gros Michel bananas
which had made his fortune
00:50:56.334 --> 00:51:00.334
disappeared at the end
of the sixties.
00:51:00.999 --> 00:51:03.310
Another banana emerged.
00:51:03.334 --> 00:51:05.226
♪
00:51:05.250 --> 00:51:06.768
The Cavendish.
00:51:06.792 --> 00:51:06.975
♪
00:51:06.999 --> 00:51:09.226
It had been developed
by a small competitor
00:51:09.250 --> 00:51:11.852
soon to become
an agricultural giant--
00:51:11.876 --> 00:51:15.602
the new leader
of the banana market,
00:51:15.626 --> 00:51:16.727
Dole.
00:51:16.751 --> 00:51:21.727
♪
00:51:21.751 --> 00:51:24.476
(woman vocalizing)
00:51:24.500 --> 00:51:26.935
♪
00:51:26.959 --> 00:51:28.268
The Dole banana.
00:51:28.292 --> 00:51:31.185
If you feel it, peel it.
00:51:31.209 --> 00:51:34.435
♪
00:51:34.459 --> 00:51:35.602
According to latest reports,
00:51:35.626 --> 00:51:38.143
the Cavendish banana may,
in its turn,
00:51:38.167 --> 00:51:39.894
be on the way out.
00:51:39.918 --> 00:51:43.685
♪
00:51:43.709 --> 00:51:47.727
Workers for Dole tried in vain
to have the company condemned
00:51:47.751 --> 00:51:50.101
for poisoning by pesticide.
00:51:50.125 --> 00:51:51.852
♪
00:51:51.876 --> 00:51:55.018
As for Chiquita Brands,
the heir to United Fruit,
00:51:55.042 --> 00:51:56.268
it was recently
in a legal battle
00:51:56.292 --> 00:52:00.768
concerning the financing of
paramilitary groups in Colombia.
00:52:00.792 --> 00:52:04.268
♪
00:52:04.292 --> 00:52:07.476
That was the story of a fruit.
00:52:07.500 --> 00:52:09.268
A simple fruit.
00:52:09.292 --> 00:52:10.101
♪
00:52:10.125 --> 00:52:11.727
(train chugging)
00:52:11.751 --> 00:52:21.999
♪
00:52:22.500 --> 00:52:25.059
♪ I’m Chiquita Banana
and I come to say ♪
00:52:25.083 --> 00:52:27.059
♪ Bananas have to ripen
in a certain way ♪
00:52:27.083 --> 00:52:29.685
♪ When they are flecked with
brown and have a golden hue ♪
00:52:29.709 --> 00:52:33.101
♪ Bananas taste the best
and are the best for you ♪
00:52:33.125 --> 00:52:35.976
-♪ You can put ’em in a salad ♪
-♪ Fruit salad ♪
00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:38.935
♪ You can put ’em
in a pie-ie-ie ♪
00:52:38.959 --> 00:52:41.560
♪ Any way you want to eat ’em ♪
00:52:41.584 --> 00:52:44.935
♪ Impossible to beat ’em ♪
00:52:44.959 --> 00:52:45.976
♪ But bananas like the climate
00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:48.685
of the very, very tropical
equator ♪
00:52:48.709 --> 00:52:55.602
♪ So you should never put
bananas in the refrigerator ♪
00:52:55.626 --> 00:52:57.518
♪
00:52:57.542 --> 00:53:01.209
♪ Ooh ooh ooh ♪
00:53:02.083 --> 00:53:03.417
Ah!
Distributor: Icarus Films
Length: 52 minutes
Date: 2017
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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